A Soldier and His Father
by onioner
Summary: At the young age of fifteen, Calem Brookes decides it's time to run away from home and aspire to greater things; Overwatch. Specifically, meeting the former Strike Commander, Jack Morrison. Calem travels around America in search for him, determined to find and train under this man until his last dying breath.
1. Prolougue

_Prologue_

" _Overwatch!" the boy exclaimed to his family, the four of the others looking up from their dinner plates at him. He could clearly see the displeasure on their faces, but ignored the negativity as he continued, "the organization was amazing, and I wanna do stuff like what they do!"_

 _His father scoffed at his words, looking away from his son in a bit of annoyance. "You always go on about this Overwatch stuff, Calem," the man huffed, shoving another piece of meat into his mouth as he grumbled to himself. "Y'know, there's a reason the organization was shut down," he swallowed, Calem rolling his eyes and just smirking to himself, the smirk built out of frustration in his father for always putting him down about this._

" _Listen, Calem," his father spoke once more, his fork sliding against the plate as he picked another piece of meat up onto the fork. "I encourage you to do as much as you want and can, but Overwatch…" his father continued, recalling all the scandalous news stories from the time of Blackwatch. "Overwatch was doomed to fail from the beginning. If you want to help, don't aspire to be them."_

 _Calem scoffed at his words, shaking his head as he looked away, getting pissed and trying to conceal the anger with another smirk. "Well, Jack Morrison wasn't a problem."_

" _Jack Morrison was the problem," his mother pouted, Calem grumbling as he was literally biting his tongue, letting out a loud huff of frustration._

" _Honey, don-"_

" _What would you know about Jack Morrison…" Calem cut off his father, staring his mother down as he pursed his lips._

 _His mother looked at him in disbelief that he would talk back at her like that, shaking her head as she looked back down at her plate. "You weren't alive during the time! Calem, you don't understand how Overwatch went to ruins," she continued to push, Calem standing up abruptly and slamming his hands on the table._

" _You don't understand either!" he screamed at her, the rest of the family lifting their heads at him._

" _Calem, sit back do-"_

 _Calem held a hand up to his dad that cut him off, continuing to argue with his mother. "The news and media are just gossip!" he shouted, shaking his hands and slamming his fists on the table one more time before walking away from the table. "I'm done talking to you guys! I'm tired of having this conversation!"_

 _Calem rushed up the stairs of his home, scrambling into his bedroom and slamming the door. He leaned against it as he breathed hard, long huffs of frustration that were building into tears that he tried his hardest to keep down. "Ugh! What do they know!" he shouted to the empty room, slamming his fist on the door and shaking his head again. "They don't know anything!" Calem told himself, crawling to his bed and collapsing in it, burying his head into his pillow and trying his hardest to swallow down the tears, feeling his throat straining and chest tightening. He lifted his head to study up at the poster above his bed that he would stare at every night, having dreams about the members of Overwatch and being one of them. His focus centered on the great, Strike Commander Jack Morrison, admiring his handsome, chiseled features and the proud look on his face, wishing he could meet him, wishing he could be him. "I wanna run away with you…" he mumbled to himself sorrowfully, rolling over onto his back and shutting his eyes with a deep breath. "You wouldn't be telling me these things…"_


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

Taking a deep breath, he looked back at his home, one last time, as he stood outside of it with his hoverboard at his side. His warm bed, his loving family, his mom's home cooked meals, the wealth of his family. He was leaving it all behind, he felt like he had to, he knew he wouldn't be able to do what he wanted if he stayed there, he knew the life of action and adventure he had waiting for him out in the world would not be found in this small, quiet house in Henderson, Nevada, the middle of practically nowhere. No, it was time to leave, to be the adult every teenager thinks they are at fifteen. It was time for him to go find the real hero he looked up to the majority of his young life, the person who he believed in so much and thought would help him achieve his dream; the famed Jack Morrison.

After a couple of years of tracking the man's whereabouts, trying to find patterns in the sightings of the famed "Soldier76" who he knew _had_ to be his hero. An old man doesn't look that fit or move that well if he weren't pumped full of whatever it was that made him super human he is, and his cheek bones were _not_ well hidden under that mask, no one else could have that chiseled of a face and body.

Calem took another deep breath, holding it as he suppressed his sadness in his chest, and slowly let out the breath, along with the sorrow he carried of missing his home. Today was the start of his journey.

He took off on his hoverboard, speeding through the desert valleys as the cool of the night blew on his face. He felt free, for one of the first times in his life. As he passed the junkyard he'd venture around and create things in. He recalled all the time it took to create his hoverboard, to figure out the science to make his headphones work and fixing his hearing impairment, the _months_ it took for him to learn how to harness solar power by himself and convert the sun's energy into a harmful laser that he could use as guns. He waved goodbye to it as he passed, smiling at the memories he would no longer be having there, but looking forward to making new memories, staying with Jack and showing him what he's invented next.

Once he sped away from the junkyard, he knew it wouldn't be long until he reached the outskirts of town and was officially on his way to go find the famed soldier he would follow for the rest of his days.

The desert was cold in the night, Calem shivering as he continued on his board with the wind blowing in his face. He slowed the board down to a steady halt, swinging his legs up with the board as his feet came off of it and the board flew into the air, Calem landing on his feet and catching the board before softly putting it down beside him. He swung his backpack off his shoulders, pulling the long poncho his grandmother made for him a few years back, as well as a mask for his face.

The yellow and pink patterned poncho covered down to his waist, Calem taking a moment to appreciate the fact that his grandmother could remember his favorite colors. He then slipped the black face mask over his head, sliding it down and over the lower half of his face, while covering the upper half with a pair of night vision goggles. Not that a pair were so much necessary in the starry night skies of the desert. But they alway kept the sand out of his eyes.

He slung his backpack back on, stepping back on his hoverboard as he listened to the directions the phone was telling him, wondering to himself if Jack Morrison kept a phone on him, and if he could potentially get a GPS location for it if he got the number. But that was quickly replaced with a bit of worry of what his next move was going to be. Santa Fe was the first stop planned, but there was no telling how long it might take to get there, and it left him wondering how on earth he was going to feed himself and get money in between towns. He'd have to start making connections, because that's what vigilantes do, as far as Calem knew.

To keep himself occupied from his thoughts, he began humming the first song that came to mind. The gentle hums were silent compared to the sound of wind blowing against the ears of his headphones as he sped through the sand at 30 mph.

"... Refuge in young man's pleasure… Breaking down those dreams we made… We'll..." he began singing as he smiled at the thought of the song, loving it to pieces, and giving him the courage to venture off. Sure, it was _really_ old, and I mean 1970 old, older than Jack Morrison old, but boy, did he love the sound of it, and it was such a time changing part of music.

His hoverboard carried him into another town in a short amount of time, one that seemed more populated, but a large lack of people on the streets. Still, Calem would have to switch from the open range of the desert into the constricted feeling of the streets, frustrating him since people would always blast their horns at him for going too slow anyways, but due to his hoverboard's max speed of 60 mph, he was legally constricted to the road, and Calem wasn't really one to risk breaking a law like that. A vigilante obeying the rules of the road. What a rebel.

The speed limit was a law that he always broke though, not having the patience to obey it, so when he passed a sign with a big "30" on it, he, of course, just rolled his eyes as he sped by it at 50. It was well after midnight, anyways, there wouldn't be anyone on the roads, so there was no harm in going that fast. But he was just as quick to regret that decision as a siren started blaring behind him, followed by red and blue flashing lights.

"God fucking _dammit!_ " he swore to himself, scanning the road in front of him for a way out of this situation. He noticed a left hand turn that he sped past, trying to organize a plan in his head as the car was quickly approaching, riding up his ass. He glanced back and grunted, the cop obviously signaling for him to pull over, but Calem wasn't going to do that. He was worried about what the cop would do, because whenever he got pulled over for this stuff in Nevada, the first thing the cop would ask is where he lived, then cuff him and drive him back home. And he knew for a fact that the punishment would be more severe in another town, and past curfew.

Calem finally got his plan in order, waiting for the officer to get closer to him before making a sharp U-turn, just _barely_ missing the cop car as he swung by it and sped down the street past it towards the turn he had noticed before. He took a right down the road, hearing the rattling of the car as the cop spun around, speeding after him. Lights in the houses down the neighborhood were turning on now, people looking out into the streets as they could hear the sirens from their houses. Boy, was Calem happy he put face mask on, considering there were _probably_ people that new him in this town. In reality, though, the mask wouldn't help at all, since Calem had a habit of bragging about his "cool and original hoverboard" and how it was "the fastest one of this century."

A spike of blood rushed through his veins as he whipped around another corner, the cop right behind him, and yet, he smiled under the fabric of the mask. He had never felt so alive and free. If this was what a vigilante's life was like, he couldn't wait to live like this every day.

As the cop got close again, Calem turned into someone's yard speeding through the sand and laughing as he looked back at the cop stopped at the street. When he turned his head back around though, he could've sworn he saw his life flash before his eyes as a big, brown picket fence filled his view. Lucky for him, he had a fast enough reaction time to swing his board up and hover along the side of the fence, riding it all the way around the perimeter of the yard and out the other side of the house from where the cop was stopped.

The cop shouted at him, out of the car once Calem sped past him, Calem cackling to himself as he couldn't believe he outran a cop. This had to be one of the best days in his life, ecstatic that he was going to be living the rest of his life this way. Such a carefree and rebellious life suited him, quenching his extreme thirst for adventure. This was the life he belonged to, and he couldn't wait to live it to its fullest extent.


	3. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: If anyone is interested in learning more about Calem (overall backstory, design, etc.), then visit this link: tagged/Calem-Brookes**

 _Chapter 2_

Calem sighed as he sat on his phone in the desert, hoping that he'd find the soldier in the nearby city after tracking his patterns, but losing hope after the first stop ended in defeat. He was constantly searching for any new articles with the words "Soldier76" or "Jack Morrison" and the last one he saw was from yesterday, in this small, wood built town.

"Ugh…" he mumbled to himself, hitting his head on the hot stone of the boulder he sat against while he looked up at the sky, squinting at the sun that was poking through the clouds. "Hm… I wonder if I'll ever actually find him…" he wondered aloud, playing with the phone in his hand a bit as he tried to think up a plan. He sighed as he looked off to the side, his head hurting from holding back the frustration and sadness of not being able to achieve his dream. "Well," he started, picking his head up and slowly rising to his feet, "he must not have gone far…" Calem assured himself, looking down at the phone in his hand as another story about the soldier popped up. "Yeah, I'm sure if I ask around, I'll find him!"

Instantly motivated by the thoughts of him and Jack being together, Calem grabbed his hoverboard and sped into town, determined to get some answers out of people. He dodged through the sand dunes of the hot desert, the sun beating down on him and making him feel disgustingly sweaty as he made his way into the omnic village, all of the homes little and falling apart, but seeming very hospitable and cozy. He slowed to a stop in front the small inn, a run down place with a very western feeling to it, figuring he'd be able to meet someone in there who could help him.

Calem picked his hoverboard up and swung the retractable string across his body, carrying the board on his back as he made his way through the doors. The entrance to the inn was a dining/bar area, only a very few people and omnics occupying the area. The first thing he did was look around, seeing many paper pin ups on the walls, and hoping to maybe see a wanted poster for the soldier amongst them. As he made a quick scan of the establishment, his eyes landed on a man, ridiculously dressed as a cowboy, sitting at the bar. It took Calem an immense amount of strength to hold down his bursts of laughter he wanted to let bubble out of him, but he still giggled quietly, covering his mouth with his hands to ensure he didn't attract any attention to himself. He seemed to be on his fourth drink, but still mildly sober, so Calem could guess that he might be a regular there. It might help to ask him about the soldier.

The cowboy looked at Calem curiously as the boy sat next to him at the bar, seeing he was clearly underage. He straightened up in his seat a little, glancing to his side at the boy fiddling with his phone, noticing all his fancy gadgets, but especially noticing the neon guns at his side, taking a long breath of the tobacco in his cigar. Although the man tried to keep to himself, he couldn't stay quiet for the sake of this kid.

"Say…" he started, catching Calem's attention as the cat ears on top of his headphones changed position, the cowboy raising an eyebrow at the device. "Ain't you a bit…" he looked him up and down once more to confirm his youth, "young to be at a bar?"

Calem chuckled at the man's comment, turning toward him a bit and mirroring his quick up and down, his outfit making him continue to giggle, once again. "Ehehehe… Aren't you a little old to be dressed as a cowboy..." he countered, the man chuckling quietly at the kid's quick mouth.

"Touché…" he smirked, taking a long breath of his cigar as Calem looked down at his phone, then back up at the man, staring at him a bit. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, Calem getting a little flustered once he was caught as he didn't mean to stare. He was just trying to think up what he was going to ask. "'Didn't mean that to be rude, yer just starin' a lot.

"Well..." he started, taking a deep breath and calming himself down, trying his hardest to suppress his social anxiety. "You seem like a regular around here, so I was wondering if you know a lot about this town," Calem pushed the conversation, the man looking down at him, having been a while since he's seen a new face, or had any sort of company at the small bar.

"Yeah, I know a thing or two," he stated, taking another inhale of the toxic smoke, Calem contemplating how he uses similar substances in his smoke bombs, and mentally taking into account how they would affect smokers. "Whatcha' gotta to know?"

Calem let out a little sigh of relief and smiled at the man, absolutely relieved that the first person he talked to was so layed back and easy to talk to. "Well, y'see, I'm looking for a certain vigilante," Calem started, seeing the man's face easily turn to distaste as he could guess who it was, but just humming in acknowledgement that he was still listening. "Soldier76? Heard of him?" Calem asked as he held up his phone to the man, a picture of the vigilante pulled up on his phone.

"Uh huh…" the drinker grunted, pouting his bottom lip to the side before clicking his tongue and looking away, taking another huff of the cigar and leaving the impatient Calem to wonder if he did something wrong. Who was this man? What ties he might have to the soldier? The thoughts left him fidgeting and nervous, his anxiety returning with ease in a big wave.

"Kid, I think you're poking your nose in the wrong business…" the man stated bluntly, Calem snapping from his anxious thoughts before rolling his eyes at him and collapsing his head into his arms on the counter with a defeated huff, mumbling something into his arms. "Speak up kid, I can't hear like I used to."

"I said you're just like everyone else." Calem repeated, clearly frustrated as he had to take a deep breath to hold down the choked up feeling in his throat, looking up at the cowboy as he pouted his lip out like the child he truly was. "Telling me that it's useless to search for him, it's probably not worth it, that he's bad news…" Calem continued, not realizing he was venting to a complete stranger on these subject matters. "I just don't think anyone is willing to give him another chance…"

The man blew his cigar smoke up into the air, Calem pulling the collar of his hoodie up to cover his mouth and nose, to which the cowboy acknowledged and put out his cigar out on the counter, the bartender giving him a pretty hard glare as he watched the ash leave a black mark on the wood.

"Oi, Jesse," the omnic barked, Calem having a moment of deja vu for some reason at the mention of the name in combination with the man's face, but quickly brushing it off. "Quit smothering those damn cigars on my bar. You'll ruin the wood," the bar keep barked, the cowboy rolling his eyes at the robot-man.

"Kid," he sighed, "you don't know the man like I do," Jesse started, Calem looking up from the spot of sorrow he found in his arms, his eyes a bright red from the denial of tears. Jesse looked away nervously, trying to find the most sensitive way to put what he wanted to say. "I just mean that a kid your age may not be ready to handle what he's all about…" he corrected himself to spare Calem's feelings, looking down at the boy as he sipped his drink, feeling as if he had just kicked a kitten across the room by seeing how disappointed and dejected the little one was. "He's a good guy, but a little too bitter and brutal for you-"

"I can handle it!" Calem exclaimed, startling the cowboy and causing him to nearly choke on his drink. "Look, can you just tell me what you know about his whereabouts?" he barked, the cowboy smirking, getting a kick out of how upfront and assertive the kid was, especially to an adult stranger.

"Yeah, why not." Jesse finished the last of the drink he had, signaling the bartender for another as Calem cringed at his request, thinking the cowboy should stop before getting too loaded. "He's headin' out east, planning to take care of a mafia situation in Phoenix. He left earlier this morning, but you could probably catch him on that pretty board of yers."

Calem went red in the face at his words, being very bad at taking compliments to his inventions after being put down about "bringing junk into the house" his entire teenage life. "Th-Thanks, sir!" he sputtered out, the man laughing and turning back to his spot at the bar. "O-Oh, I never got your name!" Calem continued, the man looking at him from the corner of his eye and smirking.

"The name's McCree," he spoke, Calem waiting for more, but there was nothing left to come from the cowboy's mouth, his smile getting ridiculously big as he thought about this grown man using a one word name.

"McCree…?" Calem snorted out, his laugh breaking out as the cowboy turned back around and kicked his leg softly, giggling with him. "My god, you're a funny dude."

"Get outta here, kid, you've got a hero to look for," McCree smiled at him, Calem still laughing as he gave him a thumbs up. He opened his phone for a quick second, making a note of who this man was, where he found him, his ridiculous outfit and mannerisms, and what they talked about.

Calem turned in his chair, about to hop off and leave before seeing a couple of giant omnics walk into the bar, followed by a very dressed up woman in a big suit. Once the woman walked through, the omnics blocked the door, Calem immediately being set on edge by the situation as he looked around the bar to see the couple of other customers just as suspicious and nervous about the situation.

His eyes followed the woman as she walked across the bar, Calem turning back toward the bar in his chair and pretending to scroll through social media on his phone, but really eavesdropping like every other customer in the inn.

"This is a nice establishment you've got here, Mateo," the large woman spoke as she put her hand on the bar counter, referring to the bartender drying glasses refusing to make eye contact. "If you want it to stay nice, I better get my money."

"I'll have the money when I get it, Sofia. I'm making some big money in stocks right now," the omnic replied, still refusing to look at the woman behind him. "Don't worry about it too much."

From the context, Calem could gather that this had to be a mob situation, wondering if this related to what was going on in Jack's mission in Phoenix. He wanted to be able to help, to take a stand against this just like he suspected Jack would do.

"Mateo, I think I've made myself clear enough, but I'll say it again," she stated in a very deep and serious tone, crossing her arms and adjusting her stance. "I want my money. Not later, I want it _now_."

"Eh hem…" McCree interrupted the woman with a loud clearing of his throat, the mobster immediately whipping her head towards the cowboy and narrowing her eyes on him. "I don't mean to poke my nose in business that ain't mine," he started, turning in his chair and lighting another cigar in his mouth, "but I think you should leave him alone before y'cause trouble for all of us…" Calem held his breath as silence fell between the mobster and the cowboy, staring at the man in front of him and keeping a hand close to his gun on his hip, glancing at the overbearing omnics at the door who were more focused on the man speaking up than a kid.

The woman broke into laughter at the cowboy's attempt to break the tension, shaking her head at him in obvious disapproval. "Do you think you're being brave or something? Do you think you're like a… hero?" she spat as if it was the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. She reached into her blazer, pulling a gun from the pocket inside and aiming it at the cowboy who remained seated. Even with a gun pointing at his head, Calem couldn't believe this man could just sit here calmly and stare her down with a straight face. "Turn back around before it gets even worse, _cow_."

Calem slipped his guns very slowly from the elastic belts around his waist, being very careful before catching eyes with one of the omnics at the door. The robots' hands were quick to retract and rotate into the arm, being replaced with guns. " _He's got a gu-!_ "

Six loud gunshots sounded through the inn, Calem flinching in fear before realizing they didn't come from the omnics, but from McCree. The omnic was easily out of commission, the insides sparking as the rest of its parts flinched and spazzed. Calem took this opportunity the mobster's shock to jump on the counter, being quick to shoot a few shots at the woman and getting her in the hand and shoulder.

"Agh!" she screamed, dropping her gun on the counter and leaning over as McCree reloaded his gun, staring down the woman as Calem, hesitantly, fired a whole charge of light into the second omnic at the door, looking away as it fell back to the ground. "You _little shit!_ " she shouted, the cowboy whipping around to the woman as Calem slid under the table. The mobster went for her gun, but before she could even touch it, six shots were fired.

Calem flinched, wondering which got the round emptied into them, and afraid to see the cowboy fall down. The silence was getting painful, only putting his nerves more and more on edge. About to rise from under the counter, Calem watched as he body flopped onto the ground, his eyes widening as his breathing picked up. "Oh… oh my go-"

"C'mere, kid, don't look..." McCree spoke softly, reaching his hand under the table as Calem stared at the hand for a moment in shock, glancing back over at the body. "C'mon, kid!" he barked protectively, Calem snapping his head back to the hand and scrambling as he grabbed it, the cold and metallic feeling sending shivers up his spine. He hadn't noticed this man had a robotic hand, wondering where on earth he could've gotten it before being reminded of what had just happened.

"Y-You… You-"

"Yeah, I killed her, I kill a lot of people," McCree stated, almost proudly before realizing this wasn't the time to brag. This kid was in a state of obvious trauma, he needed comfort, and McCree would have to remind himself, for just a moment, not to be a cold-hearted killer. "Hey, don't look!" he barked as he noticed Calem's eyes wandering to the body, the boy snapping his sight back to the ground with a mortified expression. "Hey, it's okay, kid…" he spoke gently, trying to fix his mistake of yelling by putting a hand on his shoulder and rubbing it softly. "You'll get used to it, don't worry…"

Calem yanked his head up at him and held his breath at his words, his mouth dropping open as if to say words, before revoking them. "Used to it…?" he spoke in a shaky, barely audible tone as the man realized he might've picked the wrong words to use.

"Well, you're going to find a vigilante right? You've gotta get used to this sort of thing," he continued, wanting to sugar coat it and help this kid, but also wanting to send him home. This world and lifestyle was dangerous for a young, innocent mind, he didn't want this kid to end up empty, a shell of a man. He didn't want Calem to end up like him. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle that lifestyle?"

Calem looked down for a moment before picked his head up and staring at the man as it dawned on him; crying right now would render him incapable of reaching his dream. With this, he tried his best to gather his energy and strength with a deep breath, and let out all the unsureness and fear with a loud exhale. His face still remained very drained of color and his body still shook of anxiety and held down feelings, but he was trying his best to change his mindset. He wanted this so bad, he couldn't cry now. He wouldn't.

"... I can handle it…" he choke out after his long pause, looking up at him with something fierce brewing in his eyes. "I can!" he exclaimed loudly, the cowboy raising his eyebrows at him with how quickly he seemed to change his state of mind. He smiled at the boy, and adjusted his hat, seeing the glimmer of determination in his eye and finding himself in Calem.

"Alrighty, kid!" He was still unsure of him, he was nervous to let this kid be by himself, knowing that there would come a point where no one would help him, and this made him fear for Calem… but he guessed he would just have to find Jack before that day could come, because he knew for a fact that Jack would take care of him.

"Jesse! You've made a mess of my bar!" the bartender yelled at him, the two looking up at the omnic as McCree chuckled, waving his hand at him.

"Calm down, Mateo," he smirked, hooking his thumbs under his belt and flashing his belt buckle that spelt "BAMF" in big letters, Calem covering his mouth as he laughed to himself, trying to forget about what just happened and pretend like it was all nothing to him. "I just saved your omnic ass, I think you're a little in debt to me."

The omnic let out a hum of discontent, knowing he had a point, but really not wanting to be in debt to another person. But he knew McCree wasn't a bad man, he would probably use his favor for a couple free drinks.

"In fact, I'd like to use part of my favor right now," the cowboy started, the omnic grumbling softly at the sound of "part," knowing this man was going to hold this above his head forever. "Can you give…" he looked at Calem, the boy staring back at him with nerves still on end before realizing what he wanted with a small, "oh."

"Calem! My name's Calem," he exclaimed nervously, his voice shaking slightly and giving McCree another pang of guilt.

"Calem, here, a room for the night," he asked, the boy's eyes getting big before he shook his head violently.

"What! No no no, I've gotta go, like, now, otherwise I'll never catch hi-!"

McCree put his hand over the boy's mouth, wanting to convince him that it would be best to stop here and not overwhelm himself. "Kid, you're not gonna make it very far tonight if you're all shaken up like this," he told him sternly, sighing and softly patting his head over the cat ear headphones. "Take a night for a break, it's always okay to take a break…"

Calem looked up at him reluctantly, still trying to steer his gaze away from the body on the ground and get his mind off of it, trying to be strong. "How much good is it gonna do me staying in a room alone for a night instead of actually getting somewhere," he complained, crossing his arms and trying to seem pouty, but still shaking violently, both his voice and his body.

The cowboy huffed, not realizing that this kid had some sense of what he was doing as he brought up a good point; he shouldn't be left alone to dwell on this at night. "Do you want company?" he asked hesitantly, putting his head up behind his head and running his metal fingers through the greasy locks. He knew he wasn't the best at parenting and being around kids, but he could certainly try.

"Not from you," Calem complained, looking away shyly as his cheeks grew a soft red. "That'd look bad."

"What?" McCree asked, not really understanding why being alone with a young teenager for a night would be bad- "Oh."

"Yeah…"

McCree rolled his eyes a bit as he could see the kid getting a bit more flustered, not believing someone this young actually thought about this stuff. "I have no intentions like that, so who cares."

Calem pouted his lip out softly before looking away again, crossing his arms over his chest. "Okay…"

The two stood in silence for a moment before McCree took a seat back at the blood stained bar, Calem following him quietly, but just standing with his back leaning on the counter. "So, you swing that way, huh?" McCree chuckled to break the silence, crossing his arms over his chest as Calem flared red at the odd question, not believing he gave himself away so quick.

"N-No…"

"No boy your age would think about that stuff unless he did," McCree argued playfully, Calem covering his face and craving an escape more than anything. "I'm kidding, I ain't gon' judge you, kiddo," he assured the young boy, laughing softly to himself. "I used to work with…" he started counting on his fingers, Calem watching as the number rose and wondering where on earth he could have worked before to know so many gay men. But Calem wasn't really sure whether or not that was natural, he only knew kids from his old school that were either straighter than arrow, or stuck so far in the closet, you would never have guessed.

"That's a lot of gay men," he mumbled, the cowboy looking up from the metal fingers that he was counting on the third time over, smirking at the boy.

"Boy," he laughed softly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "if only you knew," he smiled, thinking about how excited the boy would be to know where he worked last.

"Jeez, Jesse," the bartender started, Calem trying to think about why that name seemed so familiar when connected to the cowboy. "I should report you right now," he joked, McCree laughing and tilting his hat to the bartender.

"Y'jealous, Mateo?" he asked as he leaned over the counter, the omnic chuckling with him.

"Just jealous enough to leave you for my wife and kids," he countered, the two laughing together as Calem stared off into space, trying to think about where he was going from where he currently was. He wondered if he could really find Jack, or if he could really get used to the lifestyle the man probably lived. Thinking about the Jack he knew on the poster in his old bedroom, he was nervous he may not be like he thought after what this cowboy told him. How did he know anything about this man, anyways? McCree… he knew the name from somewhere. He looked up at the cowboy who was still bantering with the bartender and he started to stare at him, scanning him up and down. The cowboy hat, the stupid belt buckle, the cheeky smile, he wondered where he could have possibly recognized that… Jesse McCree, huh…

"Holy _shit!_ " Calem exclaimed, yanking his head up as the bartender and cowboy looked at him in surprise and worry if there was something wrong with him. "You're fucking _Jesse McCree!_ "

The cowboy laughed at the sudden outburst from the kid, not really expecting a kid his age to know about his past, so he tried paying no mind to it. "Yeah, what about it?" he asked playfully, Calem smiling wide at him and rocking back and forth on his feet.

" _What about it?_ " he started loudly, "you used to be in fucking Ove-" Calem was hushed when a hand was slapped over his mouth, McCree looking and seeing some people look over, but with probably more of a noise complaint in mind.

"Shh!" he barked, Calem's eyes widening, as well as his smile under the man's hand. "We can't talk about that here, kid, lotsa' people in these parts don't like that organization," McCree explained, Calem nodding in understanding as McCree took his hand off his mouth.

"Sorry, just- Eeee!" Calem continued to squeal, jumping up and down as the cowboy smiled at him, chuckling at how excited he was to meet a member of Overwatch. That was definitely a first in a long time.

"Alrighty, kiddo," McCree smiled, patting the spazztic kid's shoulder. "Let's head upstairs and you can ask me whatever you want to know,"

"So, since you worked in Overwatch, you must know a lot about Jack, right?" Calem asked as they started stepping up the creaky, wooden steps, McCree mumbling softly in distaste as he lifted his hat off his head and ran his flesh hand through his hair.

"I don't like to talk about my Overwatch days…" he complained, Calem pouting that he was already being grouchy over this after _just_ saying that he'd talk about it. "The whole organization was pretty shady by the time I joined, and it was hard to juggle Gabe's secrets and Jack's morals," he explained, Calem looking in a bit of disbelief.

"Wait, Reyes was behind that stuff?" he asked, McCree laughing softly at him.

"Are you kidding?" he laughed, almost flabbergasted that he didn't see it coming. Then again, he wasn't alive back then, he had no idea what really could've happened, and then again, no one did besides the members of Overwatch. "The majority of Overwatch was. They knew everything that was going on, no one really did anything to stop it," McCree explained as they walked down the hall to the door together, obviously getting more and more frustrated with his past team members as he recalled the memories. "Hell, I went with Gabe on the majority of the Blackwatch missions, but…" he took his hat and softly lied it back down on his head, clicking his tongue as he thought about his superior's descent. "Gabe was out of control…"

Calem stood in front of the door to his room silently, not realizing his mother was partially right about what was happening in Overwatch and being a little discouraged about what Jack was really like.

"Jack has changed since then, though…" he continued, almost knowing exactly what Calem must be thinking and reassuring him that things have changed. "He just came to discuss some stuff with me…" The cowboy opened the door and glanced over at the young kid, noticing all the youth in his face and how innocent he was. "You shouldn't involve yourself in this stuff, kid… I don't want you to end up like any of us…"

"Don't worry about me!" Calem barked and smacked him slightly, stepping into the room confidently and hopping on the unsteady, creaky, uncomfortable bed. "I'll do what I want!" What a child, acting like this, but it made McCree smile slightly, feeling like he would be a little bit of sunshine if he joined Overwatch. After seeing someone get killed for the first time, he was already joking around and having fun with the very man who killed the person. He didn't seem one to hold grudges, like Jack or Gabe, he seemed true to himself, not letting anyone change his mind once it's set, and he was pretty emotionally stable, for the time being.

"Awright, kid," he sighed, Calem smiling at him before unhinging his mouth for a big yawn.

"I might take a nap," Calem sighed, taking his headphones off and placing them on the night table next to him. He could hear the muffle of McCree asking him something through his damaged ear drums and sighed as he grabbed the headphones back off the table and placing them back on his head. "Huh?" he asked as the cowboy rose an eyebrow at him and headed toward the bed.

"... Why the headphones?" he asked, the cowboy getting too distracted by the invention to remember the previous question.

Calem gave him a confused look for a moment, being so used to wearing the headphones that he sometimes forgot that he did. "Oh," he exclaimed as he realized what the man was talking about, giggling to himself at his own silliness. "Yeah, I can't hear very well, so I wear these to enhance my hearing," he explained, McCree poking the cat ear on the top and watching as it twitched around quickly.

"Where'd you get such a thing?" he asked excitedly, watching in amusement as the ears shuffled back and forth and recalibrate their hearing and adapt to the increased surrounding sound instead of honing in on the sound McCree's poking of them gave.

"I made them," Calem stated nonchalantly, McCree's eyes widening in fascination as he thought about the main builder of Overwatch, the little dwarf whose name he could never pronounce.

McCree whistled in astonishment, Calem blushing softly as he got embarrassed by the compliment to his invention. "Mighty fine. Do you do this often?," he inquired, being immensely interested in these kinds of things.

Calem smiled widely, getting red again by the compliments and curiosity of his inventions. "Y-Yeah," he replied shyly, laughing bashfully. "I made my hoverboard, the headphones, my guns, and these grenades," he explained, pulling a poisonous smoke bomb from the pocket of his white cargo shorts.

McCree's eyes widened, taking a look at all his gadgets and being absolutely baffled by the capability of this kid. "Wow!" he gasped, sitting on the bed beside the boy and taking one of the guns from the boy's side. He examined the intricate shape of the gun and the way it was structured. "How on earth does this thing work?"

"Oh, well," Calem started, taking the other gun that was at his side and leaning on the cowboy a bit, McCree looking down at him as Calem began explaning. "Pull this tab down on the back to reload," he started, pulling on the neon pink tab and exposing a solar panel. "It runs on sun energy, and opening this for a second will reload it."

"Boy howdy!" McCree exclaimed, looking at the one he had in his hands in complete awe that a kid could manage to construct something like this. As his index finger continuously grazed the trigger, he got very curious as to how to looked when shot, looking up at the wall in front of him, and figuring it wouldn't hurt.

He aimed the gun up towards the wall, Calem staring at him in concern, since he wasn't really all that interested in getting the cowboy in trouble. "You _probably_ shouldn't do that-"

"No worries, kid, it's fine," he laughed, closing his left eye and steadying his hands around the gun. He pulled the trigger, being shocked when it wasn't one bullet and done. Without realizing, he just unloaded half a clip into the wall, staring at the gun, as well as the hole in the wall, in disbelief. The two sat in silence as wallpaper flew in the air, as well as dust from the rubble, Calem and McCree looking at each other and maintaining a look of unsureness before breaking into an explosive uproar of laughter.

"Wow, kid, that's a powerful weapon!" McCree laughed loudly, ruffling Calem's hair as the boy was near tears of fun. "I might ask you to fix up my arm every once in awhile!"

Calem's face immediately froze, staying still for a moment as he tried to process what the cowboy had just told him. "Fix…" he began stuttering. "Fix… Fix your… _your arm!_ " he shouted, grabbing the cowboy by the tattered scarf around his neck and staring at him with sparkling eyes, the widest smile he could manage on his face. "It'd be an honor, McCree, sir!"


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

It was still dark out by the time Calem woke up, opening his eyes slowly and looking up at the drooling man he mistakenly snuggled up to last night. He slowly sat up from the bed, being very careful not to wake McCree up as he slipped out from under the covers. Without the warmth of the blankets, the cold, desert air took its chance to encapsulate his body, Calem shivering at the breeze he was met with. He walked to the dresser, his feet light on the ground and managing to barely creak the worn wood flooring. He got dressed into his clothes, slipping on his shirt, sweatshirt, cargo shorts, and sneakers. He then strapped his guns to his side, slipping on his headphones and turning them on. The cowboy's obnoxious snores suddenly boomed in his ears, cringing at the loud noise and, for once, being happy at the fact that he couldn't hear without his headphones.

He took one last look at the cowboy as he picked his phone off the night table beside the bed, staring down at his scruffy, sloppy face and chuckling to himself. He started thinking about what an honor it was to meet a member of Overwatch, considering the way they split up. McCree gave him a whole new view of Overwatch, putting his hero on a different pedestal. It made him wonder if he really wanted to possibly turn out like any of them, but he brushed off the worry. His mission was already started, and if anything, this held Jack above the other members. McCree never mentioned to him that Jack had any affiliation with the Blackwatch activities.

With the door shut quietly behind him, he started making his way down the steps into the dine in portion of the inn, not bothering to be very quiet anymore. As he stepped down the last couple steps, he could see the omnic who owned it cleaning the counter of the blood spilt from last night. Calem noticed the body was no longer present, wondering who disposed of it and where it could be. Those thoughts were quickly scattered away, shaking his head as he walked toward the exit.

"Hey, kid," he omnic spoke up, Calem flinching and hesitating to look over his shoulder at the man. "Where you goin'? That cowboy 'gonna be lookin' for you like you're a lost puppy." Calem felt a wave of guilt wash over him, forcing him to avoid any kind of eye contact with the omnic as he turned his head back around.

He wasn't sure what to say to that, not able to ignore it and walk out, but also not able to bring himself to turn around and look at the barkeep. "I'm not tryin' to stop you, 'just don't wanna listen to him complainin' 'bout this," the omnic continued to explain, Calem biting his tongue as he tried to think through his decision and consider the pros and cons of having McCree with him. The poor kid's anxiety would get the best of him in the pressured situation, though, his mind barreling down the tracks of the worst scenarios possible.

He stood at the door, frozen and shaking slightly as one of the metal bars that served as an eyebrow on the omnic's face rose in confusion of how the boy was reacting. "Ah, forget what I said," he tried to wave off as Calem whimpered softly. "Kid, you al-"

"Tell him I'm sorry!" Calem finally shouted before running out the doors, his heart racing in what he couldn't tell was a good way or a bad way. Was he excited to be continuing his adventure? Was he nervous to keep going? Did he want to turn back? He couldn't tell, but once he was on his hoverboard and speeding away from the establishment, the sun was rising, and he figured he should just move on from this stupid anxiety.

Moving on from memories of the cowboy, he seeked comfort and courage in thoughts of the Strike Commander, his heart beginning to beat faster and in definite excitement this time. He opened his phone as he floated across the sands, setting his GPS for Phoenix, Arizona. He was _going_ to find him within his week, or that was his goal at least.

After a night of camping out and scavenging for whatever food he could, Calem finally showed up in the quiet of the town, around two in the morning when the streets were empty and bars were just closing. He hopped off his hoverboard to begin wandering around a little, knowing he'd have to look in every nook and cranny to find this slippery soldier. But looking in this city could take months! He didn't have that kind of time, for all he knew, the soldier could be miles and miles away.

As Calem cursed under his breath, he could hear gunshots down the street, walking from behind the corner and nearly pissing his pants at the sight of a group of omnics, much like the ones he had left in pieces back at the bar, stomping down the street after a man. The omnics seemed to ignore him, surprisingly, racing right past him as the man screamed, followed by a woman shouting out her window, "Quiet down out there!"

Calem was quick to hop on this, though knowing this could be a lead to where Morrison was. Since this mob case didn't seem completely done with, Jack must've still been here!

He jumped on his hoverboard and sped towards the omnics, unlatching the two guns from his sides and immediately shooting into the back of one of their heads. A loud thud resounded throughout the street as the hunk of metal went down, the other two towering omnics stopped in their tracks. Silence fell on the street as every party stood frozen, Calem biting his tongue behind his lips as he began thinking up something to do once they'd turn around-even though he'd totally disregard any plan he could possibly come up with since he ran purely on impulse. The whir of their gears broke the silence, both omnics turning their head-in noticeably different mannerisms-and faced the culprit of the murder. Calem tried standing confidently, puffing his chest out as they turned their bodies next.

"Who the _fuck_ … do you think you are…" one of them shouted, having a thick New York accent on his robotic voice. "Comin' in here," he began stepping toward the boy, "killing my cousin," Calem readied himself in a battle stance as the omnic seemed to just get taller, "and interrupting my _damn_ work." Neither made a move as they stared each other down, Calem clearly intimidated by him and shaking from the anxiety, but still trying to hold his own. "Y'better have a damn good reason for this."

Calem bit his tongue painfully hard, his breath shaking as he tried to think of something to say. "Tell me where Solder76 is and I'll let you off," Calem started, his voice cracking as he spoke. His face got red at the crack, obviously embarrassing himself with the big talk and shaky voice, but not wanting to admit to it or submit to these mobsters. "Otherwise you'll end up like your cousin." Calem immediately mentally slapped himself after finishing his statement, the omnic putting the gun on his hand up near Calem's face.

The mobster was about to say something witty and condescending as a come back, but Calem's impulse caused him to slam on his triggers, firing an entire round into the omnic's head and blasting its head to pieces. Calem's breathing froze, not being able to believe how trigger happy he got all of a sudden, but then again, it was either the omnic or him.

Once Calem snapped out of his second of quick, scattered thoughts and contemplation of life, he realized the third omnic was preparing to shoot at him, yelling at him to stop where he was. His hoverboard was swung off his back and Calem was zipping around before the mobster could fire his first shot, Calem pulling down the tab on the back of his guns to reveal a panel. The gun lit up as Calem sped under the street lights around him, the light from them quickly being absorbed and concentrated by the gadget. The omnic continued shooting at him with his machine gun of an arm, Calem relieved to be much faster than him, but knowing it wouldn't take long for the bucket of bolts to be able to predict his movements and eventually shoot him down. He'd have to attack now.

As Calem made his last wide circle around the omnic, he lined up his shot the best he could, knowing he wasn't the best at aiming, but a situation like this would be great practice. That's all it seemed to be to him: practice. As he realized this, he felt a sudden disconnect from reality, causing him to lose focus and hesitate. A shot in the arm knocked him off his hoverboard, Calem flying back of the board as the board flew into the air and slammed onto the ground. But he knew he didn't have time to sit on the ground in pain from the large cuts down his arms and on his knees and the fact that he couldn't breathe. He got up immediately and made a run for his board as the shots continued at him. Luckily, the shots were fired slightly ahead of him, the omnic assuming he'd sprint for it, but Calem's anxiety made his legs shake and hesitate his first couple steps. With this split second opportunity of clearance, he fired an entire round into the omnic, the loud sound of bullets hitting concrete and brick suddenly halting and being replaced with the sound of wires sparking and the omnics body whirring as it tried to figure out what it was supposed to do without a chip to tell it. It wasn't long before the body slammed down onto the ground, Calem's breathing haulting as he stared at it. He slowly wrenched his head up from the malfunctioning metal, looking up at a person running toward him.

"Oh my gosh, you just saved my life!" the man shouted, Calem finally taking a breath in as his eyes became glassy.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled, falling to his knees as the man looked down at him in concern.

"... Are you alright? What's wrong, you just saved my life," the man asked, gently putting his hand on Calem's shoulder as he covered his face, trying to take a deep breath and suck it up.

Calem was always raised to believe omnics were people too. Shooting this robot in the head was the same as shooting a human to him. They had very obvious personalities, they were people, and even though they were bad people, Calem couldn't help but continuously running the thought through his head that he took something, someone, away from people.

The man knelt down next to him, running a hand through his hair as Calem looked up at him, his breathing picked up. The man's mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear the words he was saying, he couldn't hear anything besides the sharp ringing that was always in his ears. Everything around him was spinning, the man was becoming heavily distorted in his vision and even though he had his headphones on, nothing besides that annoying ringing was getting through. Then suddenly, everything was black.

Sun peaked through the window early in the morning, shining right onto Calem's eyes. His eyelids flinched for a moment, trying to refuse opening, but giving in as he squinted at the sun. He slowly lifted his head from the pillow under his head, looking around an unfamiliar room, toys lining the white shelves that hung on baby blue walls and the light rug being cushiony and filled with legos. It took Calem a moment to start thinking straight, blinking sleepily before realizing this was not where he last was.

His anxiety was easily kicked up, looking around and seeing all his stuff on the night table beside the bed covered in butterfly sheets. He went to go reach over and grab his headphones first, but the sharp pain by his shoulder stopped him. He hissed in pain as he quickly propped himself back on the bed frame and grabbed his arm. "Fuck…" he whined, trying to remember what on earth happened to get him here.

As he was grunting to himself and whining from the pain, a girl of about eleven years old walked in, her dark hair in a short bob over blue eyes that matched his own. She looked up at him in a complete lack of interest, having a lego ship in one hand and balling up the fabric of her icy blue dress in her other hand. She was obviously trying to talk to him, but without his headphones, Calem couldn't hear a thing, and the anxiety attack wasn't helping.

"Who are you!" Calem asked loudly, not realizing he wouldn't be able to hear her in that moment.

The girl stared at him for a moment before seeming to call out the door of the bedroom, Calem breathing furiously hard as he held his arm tightly. His chest was tight, he had no way to defend himself, whoever it was walking through that door could just kill him if they wanted to. Oh, how he regretted not taking the cowboy with him.

As his mind raced, a tall man with black, slicked back hair and bright blue eyes-much like his daughter-walked into the room, smiling brightly at Calem. He recognized him as the man who was being chased last night. He started to ease slightly once he realized this man must have some sort of family, but that didn't explain why he was running from the mafia.

The man started trying to talk to him, Calem staring at him blankly before snapping back to reality. "I can't hear well," he started, pointing towards the headphones on his desk and wincing at the wound.

The man gasped when he noticed the way Calem was holding his arm, running over to the nightstand and picking up the cat ear headphones. He slowly slid them down Calem's small head and onto his ears, taking his hands away slowly as the ears on top moved and calibrated themselves.

"Sorry 'bout that," Calem began, finally being able to hear himself talk and hoping he wasn't shouting to the man. Then he remembered he was in an unfamiliar place, his eyes getting big as he tried to ignore the pain and bounce himself up on his feet on the bed. "Just who are you and where is this place!" he shouted, the man putting his hands up in submission as his daughter laughed at Calem's paranoia of their small family.

"I-I'm the guy you saved last night!" the man shouted in a defensive manner, looking at his daughter who just couldn't stop giggling at Calem. The boy looked at them both, studying the two of them and slowly lowering his guard. The stranger took a deep breath of relief, being on edge after having seen what he could do.

"... So is this your house?" Calem calmed down, taking a deep breath and slowly sitting himself back on the bed.

The man sighed softly in relief, recomposing himself a bit."Yes, you passed out after it all, and I couldn't just leave you there. You're a kid," he explained, his little girl running up behind him. "Plus, I had to repay you in some way. You saved my life."

Calem tried to remember what happened before he passed out, trying to think about why or how, hoping this man wasn't just making up this whole story. "Well… thank you for all this," he replied, still a little on edge, but trying to think about it as home.

"Breakfast is all ready if you want it," the man smiled, Calem's stomach roaring loudly just as he said that. Calem went a little red, the whole room laughing together at his shameless stomach. "Let's eat together, my son is already at the table."

Uh oh. Son. Calem's stupid teenager mind was very obviously not going to be able to contain his want for romance, and just the thought of this man's son made him turn red as he got up to head toward the kitchen. Calem would admit this man was fairly good looking for his age, his blue eyes and black hair somehow taking the age away. Although Calem had a similar look, dark hair and popping blue eyes, he still found the look very attractive.

As the man lead Calem around the corner into the kitchen, he found a much taller person at the stove, smuggling as much bacon from the pan as he could, his long, black hair pulled into a bun. "Apollo!" his father shouted at him as the boy whipped his head around with wide, blue eyes and a mouth full of bacon, looking at them all guiltily. "Leave some for our guest… sorry, I never got your name,"

Calem was a bit distracted by the shirtless boy in the room, not being able to help but continuously steal glances at him as he tried to take his focus off him. "I'm Calem!" he exclaimed, smiling as the man smiled back.

"Nice name. I'm Rintarou, call me Rin," the man said, the girl running to the table and pulling the bacon away from her older brother. "This is my daughter, Athena, and my son, Apollo."

Calem snorted at the names, not believing anyone would name their kids after Gods like that. Apollo chuckled at the way Calem reacted to their names, sitting at the table and grabbing eggs from the plate in front of him.

"I know, our dad is a nerd," he snickered, Calem falling absolutely head over heels for this stranger and his deep, beautiful voice. "Come on and have some food before I eat it all," he joked, Athena glaring at him a little, then looking at Calem.

"He's not kidding when he says that," she commented, huffing loudly as she prepared her own plate as well, Rin walking past Calem and starting to prepare the boy a plate.

"Do you want eggs?" he asked, Calem nodding and feeling bad that the man was going through all this for him.

"I-I can prepare my own plate, no worries," Calem stuttered out, being a little shyer now with so much attention centered around him. He rushed over, clumsily taking the plate from Rin and starting to make his plate, trying not to spill food anywhere. Eggs, bacon, and bread with strawberry jam, a meal that reminded him of a sunday morning back at home. He quickly brushed the thoughts away, not wanting to get emotional about it as he sat down next to Apollo.

Calem tried to ignore the boy next to him, biting his tongue as he stared at his food and tried to keep his mind off him, but then an anxiety bundled up in him, wondering if Apollo would think he was ignoring him and not talk to him, wondering if Apollo was even into dudes, wondering what Apollo's type was and how he could act like that. His anxiety was clearly radiating, the whole room tensing up a bit as Calem stared into his food quietly, keeping himself locked up inside his head.

As Rin walked by, he softly tapped Calem's shoulder, breaking the boy from his thoughts a he rose his head, Rin just smiling kindly at him. "Eat up," his tone soothed him greatly, Rin seeming like a very caring father, very different from his loud, boisterous father who was always pushing Calem out of his comfort zone. He could really get used to a life like this, something calm and away from everything. It would be nice.

Calem suddenly yanked his head up as he remembered the whole point of him being in Phoenix. "Yo, I've got a question!" he exclaimed, Rin giggling softly at Calem's sudden mood swing from anxious to shameless.

"And what might that be?" he asked, his voice seeming to lull Calem further into a secure feeling, smiling brightly at the man that would be taking care of him this morning.

"So, have you heard anything about this guy, Soldier76?" Calem asked, Rin seeming to smile at the name and laugh to himself.

"Ah, of course you two would be related in some way," he started, sighing softly as Apollo smiled brightly.

"Yeah, the guy's in love with our dad," Apollo teased, Rin chuckling and shaking his head at his son.

"That's not true," he smiled, Calem giggling a little as he thought it was just a joke. "I'll tell you about what happened, but, um…" Rin's smile dropped for a moment as he glanced between his kids, pursing his lips a bit. "Apollo, take your sister into her room, please. I'll call you out in a second," Rin spoke in a serious voice, Apollo looking at his father in confusion as he slowly stood up from his seat.

"Alright…" Apollo agreed hesitantly, knowing he was going to eavesdrop on his dad's conversation anyways. He took Athena's hand and helped her from her chair, the small girl looking at her father in concern, Rin just smiling at her and trying to comfort her.

Rin looked down the hall as they left, waiting to hear the doors close before looking back at Calem with a bit of a sad smile. "Y'see, I've been a little… indebted to the mafia for quite some time now… I made a stupid decision to borrow money from them to support my kids after my wife left…" he began, Calem being surprised by this and wondering what kind of job he could have since he seemed pretty well off with such a nice house and family. "For about eleven years I've been in deep with him, and about a year ago, they tried to kill me once more… They brought me to some abandoned warehouse, and I was held at gunpoint…" Rin was beginning to get emotional, Calem hating to see such a sweet man cry over something so traumatic.

Calem stood from his seat, walking over to comfort Rin before seeing Apollo peeking his head out the door and being shocked by what happened to his dad. Calem made a mental note to go talk to him after since he knew how finding out something shocking about your parents feels. He frequently eavesdropped on his own parents as well.

He sat in the chair beside Rin, putting a hand on his shoulder as Rin smiled a bit at Calem, rubbing the tears out of his eyes that made them puff up a bit and turn red. "It was a very scary experience, forgive me for crying… I just can't bare the thought of being lost to my kids, not being able to raise them…" Calem was suddenly filled with anger as he thought about how such a good person could go through such terrible things. He wanted to help the man as much as he could. "But the Soldier… he came and helped several times, he's such an amazing person, he even bothered to walk me home and make sure I was safe. He comes back every couple weeks to check in," Rin explained, Calem's eyes going big.

"No way! Does he really? You're so lucky!" Calem shouted in excitement, smiling brightly at the man, causing Rin to laugh a little.

"Ah, you're such a good kid, Calem," Rin complimented him, Calem blushing softly and just smiling bigger. "I would offer to house you so you could meet him, but he said he was heading down to Dorado in Mexico," Rin explained, sipping from his coffee mug.

Calem knew exactly what he needed to do now, he needed to catch up. But… there was someone else he also wanted to finalize some stuff with now.

"Apollo! Athena!" Rin called, Athena rushing out of her room to finish her cold eggs and strawberries.

"One second!" Apollo called from his room, his voice obviously shaky and cracking. Calem felt terrible Apollo had to be alone, knowing well that he was crying in his room. He wanted to go talk to him but… now probably wasn't the time.

Calem picked himself out of Athena's seat and went back to his own, stuffing his mouth full of food as Athena glared at him a little, watching all the crumbs and stray pieces fall from his mouth onto the table. She'd have to clean that up later. "Boys are gross," she pouted, Rin immediately scowling at his daughter.

"Athena! We do not say things like that, especially about guests!" he scolded as she crossed her arms, Calem not even knowing what was happening as he was too busy shoveling food in his mouth.

"Well it's true! The only nice boy is you, daddy," she defended, her father melting from how cute his daughter was.

"Athena! You're such a sweet girl, did you know that?" he praised her, smiling widely as she smirked.

"I know," she giggled condescendingly, Calem nearly spitting his food out at her response. He hadn't heard something snappy like that since his siblings were young… or maybe he was the snappy one. He was _probably_ the snappy one.

Apollo dragged himself from his room, Calem watching him as he ran a hand through his side shave. He walked back to his seat silently, carrying a heavy aura as he let himself plop down in the chair beside Calem. Slowly, he started eating again, refusing to make eye contact with his father, Rin knowing something was wrong, but not wanting to make a scene in front of their guest.

A large amount of tension grew between them all, Calem bothered by the silence in such a seemingly happy and boisterous household. "Apollo, do you play any games?" he could feel his voice crack as he spoke, coughing a little and getting bright red in the face. Rin and Athena giggled at him, just making his face feel hotter as Apollo smiled at him.

"Yeah, only a few though. I'm more a sports person," he replied, putting some egg in his mouth.

Calem glanced him up and down, noticing how nicely shaped the muscles were on his body, making him feel like he was going to explode. "I can tell…" he mumbled to himself, yet not very well. Calem never noticed when his loud voice carried and it often got him into sticky situations, just as it did now. The table fell silent, Rin clearing his throat a bit as Calem looked at him obliviously. "...What?" he asked, looking at Athena, who had no idea what happened, then over at Apollo, the boy smiling and a little red in the face, not being able to maintain eye contact with Calem.

"Uh… yeah," was all Apollo could reply with, definitely picking up on Calem's glances and his flustered reactions. Calem was never subtle with these kinds of things, but he never knew that, no one ever told him how obvious his "hints" were.

Calem pouted his lip out, feeling like he did something incredibly wrong to cause the table to fall quiet again. Maybe it was just the tension from before? Who knew, but Calem took this as a good time to escape.

"I should start heading out," he announced, getting up from his seat as Rin looked up at him in surprise.

"Leave? No, no! Please stay, you should rest after last night!" Rin begged, Calem giggling at how desperate he sounded.

"Nah, I gotta catch up with a certain someone," he continued, heading down the hall into Athena's room to grab the rest of his gadgets. "Thank you for your hospitality, though!" Calem shouted from the other room, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking back to the kitchen.

Rin sighed softly, knowing it'd be hopeless with someone who was so strong headed and courageous. "Calem, please… if you want to see him, just wait a few weeks," he urged once more, Calem laughing and shaking his head at him.

"Where's the fun in sitting around! I gotta get out in the world!" Calem exclaimed, opening the door as Rin rushed over to say goodbye. "I'll also deal with your little problem…" he whispered, the father stopping in his tracks and looking at him with wide eyes, fear seeming to fill them.

"Y-You can't do that by yourself! Calem, _don't!_ " he shouted, Calem just winking at him as he started walking off. Rin was filled with a wave of frustration and the need to protect the child, taking a deep breath and running after him. " **Calem, get back in there** _ **this instant!**_ "

The man's loud voice startled Calem, Apollo running to the door and watching the situation unfold. But Calem didn't turn around, he refused to look back at him and let his quite possible last memory of Rin be anger.

"I'll be fine, Rinny!" he called back, waving, but still not turning around. "You saw me, don't worry about me."

With that, Calem walked to the gate at the edge of the lawn, refusing to look at them as Rin seemed to be panicking, desperate to not let this kid get hurt. " _Calem!_ " he shouted, running to him and swinging his arms around him, holding him in place as Calem tried to buck him off. "Please, I don't want you to get hurt!" he shouted, his voice scratchy as Calem looked at the man who was trying with all his strength to stop him.

Calem stopped struggling against him, Rin following him and holding him weakly as he pressed his face into the back of Calem's hair. "You don't deserve what they could do to you-"

" _You_ don't deserve what they're _gonna_ do to you," Calem snapped at him, his tone much more serious as he pushed Rin off him, the man falling to his knees as Apollo ran out to him.

"What do you think you're doing!" Apollo shouted and comforted his saddened father, glaring up at Calem.

Calem returned the look, standing as tall as he could to try and encourage himself. "I'm gonna save your dad." Cheesy. Calem felt his spine tingle from how cringy that line was, trying to just brush past it, but even getting a look of disgust from Apollo. "Just screw off, I've got this!" he fixed himself, waving as he made his way down the nice suburban sidewalk and towards the city, just whistling away his troubles.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

A deep breath in… Then out… And in again… And out again… Calem sat with his back against the wall of the warehouse, trying to calm his nerves and think straight under all his anxiety. He knew he couldn't go in there, guns blazing. No, he'd have to plan this one out. Or wing it. Probably wing it. Yeah, wing it.

Although Calem thought he was a tactical person, he was really just lucky most times, never thinking before acting. Of course, Calem never bothered to try to develop a plan, he'd always just think of the idea, then execute however it would unfold and hope for the best, yet expect the worst. That always left him pleased with having survived.

He crept behind the back of the building, pulling his mask over his face and crouching down onto all fours as he approached a window, taking careful, quiet steps to it in hopes he wouldn't be noticed. He peaked his head in, scanning the room of all the people and omnics, trying to count out how many there were. Seemed to be about twenty in this warehouse, he might be able to take them all out if he could do it quietly. His gun was fairly silent, but Calem could recognize some of the omnic models in there that had extraordinary senses. He studied where those models stuck around and figured he'd have to move around a lot in that area in order to stop the omnics from tracking his location.

As he turned around, carefully calculating his plan, he was hit in the cheek with the butt of a pistol. He slammed onto the ground, but was luckily still conscious, the man swearing under his breath as he didn't expect the boy to turn around. Calem was quick to jump to his feet, a little dizzy, but able to just barely dodge the two shots the man shot at him. There was a pause between his second and third shot, Calem taking this opportunity to rush the man. He ran at him full speed, bending over and wrapping his arms around his torso, taking the man down and knocking his gun out of his hands.

As the man struggled, Calem put his gun to the mobster's head, making him stop squirming very quickly. "Keep quiet, si, culone?" he whispered, surprised in himself that he could sound so smooth. He felt like those spies in those wicked old James Bond movies, which felt amazing. How on earth did he happen to remember the italian word for fat ass? That was quite a bit of luck in that moment.

"If I screamed now, you'd die whether or not you killed me…" the man pointed out, Calem clicking his tongue and making it obvious he didn't think this through all the way. "Now you have five seconds to let me go before I-"

"I think the shots came from over here," a woman's voice sounded off the walls, Calem looking back and seeing the shadows of a few figures approaching.

"Shit…" Calem mumbled to himself, looking at the man and remembering what McCree told him about killing people. Taking a deep breath, Calem tried to let go of the fact that this person was apart of someone's life, something he was taking away… Which he couldn't now that he was thinking about it. But his body was just moving by his subconscious and forcing his finger to pull the trigger, instantly killing the man with a quick rapid fire of a few bullets. He quickly lifted the body and dragged it behind a few crates, hiding himself there and reloading his guns with the light from his eye mask.

Footsteps of the woman's heels and the whirring of a couple omnics echoed beyond the warehouse menacingly. The woman swayed her hips side to side in the light, her shadow following each movement she made carefully. The smoke from her cigarette floated up into the air as she stopped walking, seeing the trail of blood on the concrete and making a small, "hm," at the sight.

"I suppose Franklin is no longer on watch duty…" her voice was sensual and smooth as butter, overpowering the clicks of her heels as she followed the blood trail to the boxes on the wall. The slow movements she took were intimidating, the woman having a seemingly calm demeanor to the situation as she peeked behind the crates.

Instantly, the woman was met with a mouth full of hot light discs, her head practically exploding as her body flopped back on the ground. Both the omnics were startled by the sudden change in mood, going from in control to fear. The boy popped out from behind the boxes, throwing down a smoke bomb from his pocket to distract the omnics. Both were caught up in the poisonous smoke, the gasses filling their vision and causing them to back up into each other.

The cover over Calem's face blocked out the poison gasses and the visor over his eyes allowed him to pick up the heat coming from the omnics' internal systems, Calem having a clear line of sight and shooting straight into the warmest part, the hard drives in their head. The sounds of the metal being busted through and the giant bodies slamming on the ground was a good indication that his shots hit, the smoke clearing up around him and revealing the dead omnics.

Calem looked at the scene around him; four dead bodies in front of him, bloodied by his own hands. It made him grin, something he knew was wrong to do after killing people, but his body just… went with it. He slammed his hand on his head, laughing to himself as he stared at it all around him, feeling himself lose his sanity. "I did this!" he cackled, his breathing ragged and unsteady as he tried holding himself together. "I killed them! I did it, I did it! I did it!" he continued to laugh, covering his face with both his hands and letting his cackles slowly turn into sobs. Tears filled his eyes as he let himself collapse to his knees, losing his balance and falling on his butt. "I've gotta be strong, though…" he sniffled, trying to wipe his eyes of the tears through his visor before hearing more footsteps approaching, gasping quietly and propping himself up onto his feet, readying himself to fight. It was going to be a long night.

Calem dragged himself down the street, bloodied and beat up, but he was able to take care of an entire part of a mafia by himself. He felt like he could take on the world after that, but he was just too tired to after being up all night.

He recalled his fight with the mob boss, the very beautiful woman being extremely intimidating, but as it is with almost every bad guy he's met so far, they had some long story to tell, or a sarcastic remark, and Calem didn't have the patience for that. She was actually pretty easy to take care of, just a couple shots in the head, which weren't hard to land while she was just sitting in a chair in the warehouse office.

Calem was now on his way to Rin's again, though, figuring he'd patch himself up there and heal himself up a bit. He limped his way down the sidewalk of the neighborhood, feeling tired and just ready to drop dead as the sun peaked through the houses. Just another day, he'd have to start thinking. This would have to become normal, either that, or he'd have to get better at dodging the goddamn bullets being shot at him and not let himself freeze up like an idiot.

He limped himself up the house's walkway, reaching the door and wanting to collapse, but trying to hold himself together. He bumped his shoulder to the doorbell, his arm too busy bleeding and being in pain to be of any use. It took a moment of Calem standing at the door quietly, trying to keep his eyes open before Rin came to the door.

"Calem!" was all he could shout, the boy smiling at him, a very bloody and tired smile that was ruined by the cuts on his busted lip. Rin was obviously torn up at the sight, trying to stop himself from crying as he helped Calem into the house. "Oh my goodness, what happened to you! How did you get out of all that alive!" he started questioning, Apollo and Athena watching him come in from the living room.

"Holy crap!" Apollo cried out, hopping over the couch and rushing over to go help.

"Apollo, call an ambulance for Ca-"

" _Don't!_ " Calem cut off him, looking up at him with a pained expression, knowing that once an ambulance was called, he would be sent right back home. "Just… help me sew up some of these wounds, then we can talk," he sighed, Rin looking at him with the same desperation and urge before Calem left.

"Calem, plea-"

"Rin, I said no!" Calem snapped at him, cringing at the pain in his mouth and neck from the motions.

Apollo watched them both quietly as they stared each other down, coming to a silent agreement that just being at home and resting would be best. "The 76 guy left one of his healing pods here, that might help," he said quietly, Calem looking at him and smiling.

"That would help a lot, actually… It'd save me from having to stitch myself up…"

Calem spoke softly, Rin sighing in relief at the much simpler solution.

"Go get it, Apollo!" Rin demanded, the boy nodding and running into the kitchen. "Let's get these bloody clothes off you…" he said quietly to Calem, leading him towards the laundry room. Calem hobbled as he leaned on Rin, coughing at a tickle in his throat and instantly filling his mouth with blood. The taste of iron made him sick to his stomach.

"Blugh…" Calem groaned, blood sputtering from his mouth and onto the floor. Rin froze up for a moment, panicked by the sudden puddle of fresh blood beneath them.

"Apollo, hurry up!" Rin barked down the hall, turning into the laundry room and gently setting Calem down against the washing machine. Although he felt like blacking out, Calem resisted as he leaned against the cold metal, golding a gash in his stomach. He turned his attention to Rin, showing off the bloody, crooked grin.

"I took care of all of them for you…." he laughed, coughing into his sweatshirt and leaving another blood stain on it. Rin stared at Calem in horror, the appearance of this child putting tears in his eyes. He collapsed next to the boy, crawling over to him with ugly sobs and swinging his arms around him. Calem was confused by the way he reacted, turning his head and looking at the man. "A-Aren't you happy-"

"No!" he shouted, his voice straining as he squeezed Calem tighter. "Damn it, you're just a kid, you didn't deserve this!" he continued, hiccuping and shaking as Apollo ran into the room. Calem and Rin both looked up at him, Rin smiling brightly at Apollo and scrambling to him on his hands and knees. He went to go grab the healing pack from Apollo, trying to pull it out of his hands as Apollo yanked his hands out of his father's reach and kicked him softly to the side.

Rin fell against the dryer with a soft thunk of the metal, Apollo obviously feeling bad walking past him, but knowing him being hysterical like this would cause things to get worse. As Rin curled into a ball of sadness and regret, Apollo leaned next to Calem and clicked the healing pack open as a bright, golden light started emitting from it. He carefully placed it on the floor beside Calem, the boy staring up at him with barely open eyes.

"You're really hot, y'know that?" he mumbled, the blood loss causing him to spout nonsense. Apollo shook his head in frustration at Calem's ridiculousness as his wounds started to close, color returning to his face. "I taste so much blood…" Calem spat, a mix of saliva and blood landing on the floor beside him as he held his head.

"How do you feel?" Rin asked, his voice shaky as Calem blinked a few times.

He looked over at Rin, yawning softly as he shook his head a bit. "My head hurts, a lot… And I'm tired… But I feel okay otherwise," Calem huffed, Rin letting out a sob of relief as Calem clicked off the healing pod, wanting to save the rest of its energy for other dire issues.

"Let's get you a shower, come on…" Rin mumbled, picking the boy off the floor as he groaned, shaking his head awake again.

"Mm…" he mumbled in agreement, lazily leaning on the man.

Calem lied down on the couch in a spare pair of boxers he had in his backpack, Rin washing the rest of his dusty and bloodied clothes in the meantime. He was showered, hydrated, and warm, lazily watching the TV and giving himself the perfect napping conditions. Footsteps of everyone sounded through his headphones, Rin pacing around his room and talking on the phone with someone, Athena doing… whatever she does in her room. Probably something with all the lego pieces in there. And Apollo was walking around the kitchen, Calem able to tell it was aimless steps that only lead him back to his seat.

The tedious taps from Apollo's phone were repeatedly filling Calem's head, his cat ears fidgeting and adjusting to the repetitive sound as he felt a couple glances on him. Of course, this was getting Calem all red in the face. From all the looks he was getting, followed by anxious pacing and the continuous texts, he knew Apollo was talking about him to whoever he was texting. It made Calem want to say something to him, but he wouldn't, his anxiety making him feel awkward to ask about it. So, he let Apollo text on about him, trying not to be bothered by it and, instead, indulge in the attention from his subtle crush.

Suddenly, the shutter sound was picked up by Calem's headphones, spiking Calem's anxiety. Apollo froze up at the sound his phone made, Calem looking back and seeing the phone pointed at him. Apollo was obviously scared for what seems to be his life as their eyes met, but Calem just smiled at him and giggled. "Are… Are you taking pictures of me?" Calem stuttered out, his voice shaky as Apollo laughed awkwardly with wide eyes, shaking his head.

"I was... taking a selfie," he protested, obviously lying through his teeth as Calem giggled shyly, turning back to the TV. He was ready for a nap, wanting to disappear from this embarrassing conversation as he slid his headphones off, sitting them on the coffee table.

Calem rolled onto his back, stretching out his limbs one last time before he'd try falling asleep, but a sudden shadow hovering him, followed by extra weight surrounding him, stopped him. He opened his eyes and nearly choked at the sight of Apollo, hovering above him, obviously trying to look cool but failing miserably. Both their faces were bright red and starting to perspire, Apollo nervously coughing in Calem's face. Although Calem couldn't hear him, he could tell Apollo was stuttering out an, "I'm sorry," Calem laughing it off and rushing to get out a, "Don't worry…" The two then just stared at each other, Apollo obviously frozen in his nerves, but not sure how to back out of the situation.

After what felt like a millennia of silence, Apollo started to try talking to Calem. This caused Calem an immense amount of anxiety and insecurity, the boy panicking a bit to try and get words out and let Apollo know he couldn't hear anything. "W-Wait!" Calem finally spat out, Apollo seeming discouraged and embarrassed for a moment. "I-I can't hear very well, I use those headphones to hear," he explained, pointing to the headphones on the counter as Apollo looked over at them, then back at Calem.

Calem waited for Apollo to reach over for them and grab them, but things took a much different turn when Apollo started leaning down. His lips brushed Calem's ear, the boy getting bright red as he tried his hardest to will himself away from setting a tent right there. "E-Earlier…" Apollo started mumbling out, Calem curling his toes to try and not focus on the cute boy surrounding him. Was he in a movie? He sure as hell felt like it. "You said I was hot, right? W-Was that true?" Apollo mumbled out, lifting himself back up to hover over a bright red Calem, staring up at him in absolute panic.

Calem had never been in this situation before, he's never had somebody _like him_ in this way. He always had crushes on other guys, but they always shot him down, so being so close to someone like this gave him a huge pile of anxiety, like he felt like the next thing he said would turn Apollo away from him. Apollo was obviously very concerned by the look of fear, getting especially nervous when Calem wasn't responding. He started sputtering something Calem couldn't hear, looking away from him in absolute shame as Calem rushed his thinking to find what he wanted to say.

"I did!" he shouted, much louder than he knew and easily catching Apollo's attention again. "And it is true! I-I think you're insanely hot and handsome and cute and, honestly, from what I've seen, you have an amazing personality! We'd click really well!" Once Calem's mouth started running, it had a hard time stopping itself, giving Apollo, what felt like, a heart attack.

Apollo took a second to just stare at Calem, taking some deep breaths to calm himself down as Calem did the same, though they didn't work for Calem. Seriously, was he in a movie? Where were the cameras?

Before another thought could go through Calem's head, Apollo leaned down again, stopping next to his right ear once more. "Then… Would you wanna, um… be my boyfriend?"

Calem could feel fireworks go off in his head, this day turning into something absolutely amazing. As Apollo rose back up, Calem didn't take a second to nod violently in acceptance of the offer, Apollo letting a deep breath out as a wide smile formed on his face. "Oh, what a cute smile," Calem commented, grinning back the widest he could. That precious smile was stealing Apollo's heart, and all he could do was just giggle at the boy's cheeky grin.

From here, though, neither of them knew what to do. Calem knew he was tired and Apollo knew he wanted to get up off the boy, but neither of them made another move or said another word. They both just stared into each other's icy blue eyes, Apollo noticing a hint of green in Calem's. Apollo, finally, lifted himself up, straddling Calem and running a hand through his hair as Calem looked away nervously, his cheeks feeling hot. Apollo noticed this and grew worried, wondering if the boy was immediately regretting his decision.

Calem glanced back over at Apollo before pouting and looking away again. "Can…" Calem immediately shut himself up, afraid to say another word in fear of it pushing Apollo away, but he shoved his anxiety aside and decided if him and Apollo were going to start dating, he should come out and say what's on his mind. "Can you nap with me…?" Calem asked in a mumbled, Apollo being frozen by such an adorable offer that he wouldn't hesitate to take.

"Y-Yeah!" he smiled. Calem wasn't able to hear him, but by the way Apollo was trying to scoot in around him, he figured he agreed. Apollo wrapped his body around Calem, slipping his arm under Calem's as he held him. At this moment, Calem knew this was a bad idea, a horrible, terrible idea. He was bright red in the face, and his heart was beating so fast, he could feel it thumping hard on Apollo's arm. He knew he wouldn't be taking a nap now. Then his mind started running. Did Apollo feel the same? Is he asking too much of Apollo _right_ after asking him out? Why does Apollo like him, he was just a trash can chasing a worthless dream, after all. This sudden burst of all these emotions made him sit up in panic, Apollo's arm sliding off him as he looked up at the boy in worry.

"Calem, what's wro-"

"Poop, I gotta poop," Calem's voice cracked out as he rushed to the bathroom, Apollo left to giggle at the lie. Calem rushed down the hall covering his face, Rin smiling at him before they locked eyes. Calem just ran faster, turning into the bathroom and slamming the door. Rin sighed as he watched the boy, knowing something was wrong, but he couldn't just hang up the call he was on, it was too important.

Calem shut the toilet seat in the bathroom and sat down on the cold plastic, trying to take some deep breaths and calm himself down. His mind kept racing, though, his breathing unconsciously becoming uneven again. Why on earth would Apollo want to be with him, he had no redeeming qualities. He was a kid on the run, he had nothing to live for. He _killed_ people and was trying to become _okay_ with that.

He gasped as the voices of the mobsters from last night sounded through the bathroom, not being able to breathe out of fear of the hallucinations. "Your fault," they whispered, Calem holding his head as he curled further into a ball. "I had kids," one mumbled, Calem flinching as he felt a cold sweat fall down his face. "I had a family," another whispered as he started crying, shaking his head violently as a ringing started sounding loudly in his ears. He was losing it, his paranoia was getting to him and it wasn't going to go away unless someone stepped in. But the door was locked. No one knew he was in there suffering the way he was. What on earth was happening, one minute he was feeling as bright and dandy as ever, and the next minute he felt like dying.

The voices continued to echo, Calem beginning to see their faces around him as it all got louder. He finally allowed himself to let out a wail, in hopes someone would hear him and save him from his own thoughts. He waited a moment before letting out another one, feeling the thumping of Rin's feet down the hall-he could tell it was Rin's feet by the way they floated on the ground, yet stomped through. The footsteps stopped at the door, Calem able to hear Athena rushing out of her room as well, then Apollo coming over. Calem didn't dare to lift his head though, it was all too much for him, he didn't want to see the bloodied, grotesque faces of his victims. Especially that woman he shot in the face, her image just a bottom jaw on her shoulders. He shook violently at the thought, biting down on his tongue and whimpering loudly.

A hand touched his shoulder, causing him to just retreat further into his arms in fear of seeing a dead person come back to haunt him. The shoulder shook him once, Calem gasping as he yanked his head up, tears keeping a continuous stream down his face as he saw the way Rin's whole family stared at him. The way they all stared at him with such pity and worry in their eyes just made Calem feel even smaller, wanting to shut them out and keep them away. Rin's arms wrapped around him, Calem grabbing him tight and clutching onto him as well, crying hard into his shirt.

It was going to be a long week.

When night fell, Calem figured he should stay one more night there, he didn't have the strength right now to go out on his own, wondering if Rin or Apollo would come with him, keep him company on his trip. He knew they wouldn't, though, Rin had his kids to keep an eye on, including Apollo. He sighed as he sat on the couch, trying to cuddle up in the blankets Rin had given him. Even though it was warm out, Calem always needed blankets to snuggle up under, it always made him feel safer, and that wasn't something he got on the road. He'd cherish this moment one last time before going back to his treacherous and strenuous search.

Calem felt a new presence in the living room, slowly opening his eyes and seeing Apollo staring down at him with a worried smile. He could understand when Apollo mouthed out, "hey," to him, Calem not having the energy or emotion to get embarrassed at the sight of him and just wanting to be as casual and honest as he could with Apollo in this moment.

"Hey," Calem replied lazily, sitting up from his spot on the couch and reaching over to the coffee table to grab his headphones. He set them on his head and turned them on, Apollo watching in fascination as they recalibrated themselves.

"Those are really cool," he smiled, walking around the other side of the couch and sitting beside the boy as Calem chuckled softly.

"Thanks…" Calem mumbled, resting his head on the pillow behind him and staring at Apollo, admiring his sharp features about him.

They sat in silence for a moment, Apollo looking away nervously, then back at Calem. "About today… How are you feeling right now…?" he asked, Calem smiling at him, kind of happy he was worried.

"I'm much better, now. I just gotta… get used to it." He lied. Not just to Apollo, but to himself. Getting caught up in this whole journey was sacrificing his mental health, but… he was determined to achieve this dream, no matter the cost. Apollo rose his eyebrows in a bit of shock at the response, and it wasn't subtle either, Calem noticed, but he just laughed it off, not bothering to worry about it since he'd be gone tomorrow morning. "I _am_ going to shadow Jack Morrison, after all… and it was… the right thing to do…" he nodded to himself, trying so hard to convince himself that it was all okay. Apollo stared at him for a moment and huffed, shaking his head and grabbing his hand.

"As long as you're okay with that." The two sat in silence once again, Apollo's thumb gently running over Calem's skin as they both stared off into space a bit. Apollo contemplated what kind of things he would be involved with if he continued to follow Calem, wanting to be loyal to someone and embrace this boy's adventurous and chaotic neutral nature. Calem contemplated where he was going to go next and how he'd get there. He knew he needed to get to Mexico, but he wasn't sure how he'd cross the border. He had no passport on him, it would be a little hard to crossover. But he'd figure it out.

"So, I wanted to ask you something," Apollo interrupted Calem's train of thought, catching him off guard. Calem hated when people started conversations with something along the lines of "we need to talk," it always made him feel like he did something and put him on edge. "Would you… spend your last night… with me?" Apollo asked, looking away with red cheeks as Calem felt his heart thump for a moment, just a moment.

It flustered Calem for a moment, but his pounding headache quickly reminded him that it's unwise to start getting all excited. "'You sure Rin is alright with that?" Calem asked, sounding slightly annoyed but trying to brush it off. Apollo clearly hadn't even thought of that by the way he looked over at Rin's room at the end of the hall, then back at Calem with an unsure smile.

"Well, he doesn't need to know," Apollo laughed, Calem blushing heavily at the thought of going behind Rin's back and letting Apollo take him, but trying to push those feelings down, his head feeling like it was pulsing against his skull. "Besides, it's not like we'll be doing anything we shouldn't be… Just sleeping." Calem let out a deep breath of relief, happy he wouldn't have to deal with anything tonight.

"Yeah, why not," Calem shrugged, trying to be casual about it. He really just wanted somewhere to put his feet and keep them warm. "Will you carry me?" Calem whined, Apollo rolling his eyes at him a bit, but nodding. He rose up from the couch, Calem admiring how tall he was and just how nice he looked without a shirt. Apollo slid his arms under Calem's back and knees, lifting him from the couch and holding him bridal-style.

"Wow," he rose his eyebrows, bouncing Calem up and down. "You're really light." Calem rolled his eyes at the comment, getting a little red in the face as he took a deep breath and leaned his head against Apollo's chest. "You're small too…" Apollo noted.

"Wow, I had _no_ idea, Apollo. It's not like everything towers over me," Calem complained and looked up at him sleepily. Apollo giggled a bit as his remark, Calem smiling at the bounce of his chest. He was happy he could make others happy.

This was quickly interrupted, Apollo being clumsy enough to slip on the end of his sweatpants and trip himself. It felt like slow motion as he gasped and started falling forward, Calem flying from his hands. Both of their face contorted into a look of shock, then fear, then acceptance. Calem was able to make use of his good reflexes, twisting his body like a cat's and landing on his feet, squatting to move with the force. Apollo, on the other hand, just fell flat, slamming on the ground with a loud thud.

Apollo picked his face up off the ground, Calem smiling at him and trying to hold in his laugh behind his hands as to not wake the house. The loud thud was enough, though, Rin running into the hallway with a bat and Athena rushing out of her room and behind Rin. Calem looked behind him, seeing Rin holding a bat above his head which made Calem just laugh harder, taking his hands away from his mouth and absolutely cracking up as Apollo peeled himself up from the floor.

"Jeez! What were you two doing! You scared the shit out of me!" Rin tried to scold them, Calem laughing too hard as he put a hand on the wall to steady himself.

Apollo looked away nervously, wondering if Rin would let him and Calem sleep in the same bed still. "I was taking Calem into my bedroom…" he mumbled shyly, Rin looking at him with big eyes, getting a little red in the face.

"... Y… But… Why…?" Rin mumbled, Apollo shaking his head violently.

"Chigaimasu!" he shouted, starting to shout Japanese at his dad. "Wareware nakatta iku sekkusu o suru!"

Calem stared at Apollo in complete awe, flabbergasted by the new language he was sputtering. Of course, he didn't understand a single word, wondering what on earth he was defending. Some of it made a little sense, but he didn't watch enough anime to know any of what they were saying. It actually made him laugh harder, he couldn't stand how funny it was to hear Apollo try not to trip over his words.

"Apollo… Shiranai…" Rin sighed, looking toward his room, then at Calem's inability to contain himself, then back at Apollo.

"Onegai!" he begged, Rin being even more suspicious by the way he was pushing it.

"Iye!" Rin shouted, Apollo letting out a loud huff as he responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Shinei…"

" _Nani!_ " Rin yanked Apollo by the ear, scowling at him as Apollo winced in pain. Calem falling on the floor at that as his laugh continued to explode through the room at the way they bickered. He loved how silly Rin's family was and the way he parented, thinking about what it'd be like to stay here forever.

"Let go!" Apollo shouted, smacking his dad's hand away and huffing loudly. Calem tried to cover his mouth as he watched Rin shake his head, storming back into his room and slamming the door behind him. Athena mimicked her dad's behavior as she rushed into her room as well, leaving Apollo and Calem in the hall together.

Apollo huffed in frustration with his dad, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sorry…" he mumbled, Calem finally settling his laughter before smirking at him a bit and bouncing onto his toes. He leaned up and kissed the boy's cheek, Apollo going bright red in the face as he stared at Calem in shock, not knowing what to think with Calem anymore. He couldn't tell if he was shy or confident, he wasn't sure how he should approach Calem.

Calem stared up at him, his eyes eager and intimidating Apollo a bit, but in a good way. "Rin doesn't need to know…" he whispered, taking quiet footsteps into Apollo's room and studying it, wanting to remember what it looked like before he left in the morning.

Apollo took a deep breath, letting Calem lead him as he nodded. Apollo's bed was only a twin, but Calem had such a thin frame, he was sure it wouldn't matter. Though, he was quick to regret that choice.

Cut to three in the morning, Apollo not having gotten a wink of sleep yet with Calem sprawled out on top of him, snoring in his ear and fidgeting constantly. He huffed softly, his eyelids heavy as he looked over at the sleeping boy. He took this chance to study all the little things about his face, the subtle freckles that were splattered on his cheek like paint, the way drool trailed down the side of his cheek and onto his pillow—he'd have to remind himself to get a new one after this—his beautiful eyelashes that were long and full, the way his lips were cracking from the dry heat of Arizona. He was absolutely… well, at the moment, he wasn't exactly _beautiful_ , but he was so… tranquil, it put Apollo at peace for just a moment before a loud snore erupted from the boy. He was never sleeping on a bed this size with him again.

"No no, Jack, it's… hmm…" Calem grumbled out, Apollo smiling a little bit as he could feel his tired eyes sting from being up for so long. "No, Apollo, don't worry…" Oh, how cute Apollo thought it was that Calem was dreaming about him already, making him smile at the dead asleep boy. He figured if Calem was such a heavy sleeper, he could adjust Calem a bit and get them comfortable.

He slowly started moving Calem around, gently pushing the light, kitten weight body off of him and beside him, sliding him on his side and encompassing the boy in his body, spooning him and feeling Calem's soft skin against his own. Calem refused to sit in this position for long, though, rolling over and facing Apollo with another mumble before letting out soft breaths. Apollo stared at his face, getting a little red from having Calem so close to him. And all at once, he could feel the hormones rushing to his head. He stared at Calem's beautiful, shut eyes, the way his eyelids moved and twitched to the rhythm of his eyes underneath. Then his studied the excellent structure of his cheekbones, a bit jealous of how gorgeous and chiseled they were. Then, down to his lips, studying the way they seemed so rough and chipped. There was still a little bit of drool in them, but as Apollo stared longer and longer, he started becoming more and more curious as to how they really felt. There was only one way to test that theory, obviously.

Maybe one kiss wouldn't hurt, he thought, leaning in slowly and watching for any sign that Calem may wake up. A little peck on the lips, that's all it was, but Apollo's head was exploding with fireworks, wondering why on earth _this_ kiss seemed so magical compared to other people he's dated. Maybe it was the environment, the close quarters and solitude, maybe it was Calem's dazzling yet… well, hilarious looks, or maybe it was the way Calem's explosive and bright personality made Apollo light up, just thinking about it making him all giddy and excited. Calem had only just entered his life a few days ago, but he was already making such a huge impact. It took not even twenty-four hours for Calem to lift something that's been haunting his family, or rather, his dad, for so long. He was just… incredible.

Apollo gently caressed Calem's cheek as he stared at him, wondering how well this relationship would go with Calem always traveling further and further away. He wanted to touch Calem, feel him there, and by the way the boy slept, so close and clingy, he could guess Calem would that too. His mind trailed to whether or not he could trust Calem… would Calem cheat on him while he was away? He had to wonder, but from how devoted Calem seemed to his family after just a few days of being with them… he felt he could trust him.

"No, it's… don't worry…" Calem mumbled in his sleep, Apollo smiling a bit as it felt like Calem had read his mind. Of course he'd say not to worry, even unconsciously. Calem was a good kid, he liked him a whole lot. Apollo wrapped his arms around him lightly, his face burning as he pressed Calem to his chest. He was just too cute, like a kitten… he wanted to keep him safe so bad… maybe he should go with him. If only he could.

Calem lazily opened his eyes at the feeling of his phone vibrating next to him, blinking a few times to try and reorientate himself. Slowly realizing where he was, he scrambled to shut the alarm off, not wanting to wake Apollo from his sleep at 5:30 am. But that wouldn't be a problem, the boy was already wide awake, sitting up beside Calem and startling him a bit.

Calem stared at a very sleepy Apollo, running a hand through his hair and letting out a little bit of a sigh. He was hoping to escape without saying any sappy or stupid goodbyes, Calem lived by the philosophy that it was better to leave things an open book, goodbyes were just unnecessary and sad. As he started getting caught up in his thoughts again, he felt Apollo press his lips to his ear, Calem surprisingly able to get used to this feeling quickly.

"Are you leaving?" he whispered, Calem glancing over at him before locking his eyes onto his lap, nodding slowly.

"I'm tryin' to head out early. I wouldn't wanna wake anyone up just for some stupid goodbye," Calem mumbled, keeping his head down and twiddling with his thumbs. Although he couldn't see Apollo's face, he knew it was have been pained.

Apollo leaned his head on Calem's shoulder, taking a deep breath as he stared at the wall in front of them. "Hm…" was all he hummed out, Calem felt a bit uncomfortable and insecure, now, as if Apollo was judging him already in this new, delicate relationship. Was it a mistake? Was what a mistake? Calem didn't know what could possibly this _mistake_ he was thinking about, but something had to be his fault, maybe anything and everything he's done. That had to be it.

Before another thought could go through Calem's head, Apollo's lips were against his ear, a hand on his as Apollo whispered, "can I at least have a kiss goodbye?" Unknown to Apollo,Calem planned to give him one anyways. Although, it was planned to be in Apollo's sleep, but he was fine with a request like that, it wasn't a huge deal. Just a kiss.

That's a lie. Calem was freaking out inwardly and outwardly about this, never having kissed anyone besides his parents… and one friend, but that's beside the point. This made Calem even more insecure, but excited at the same time. His first kiss, it was really happening! And it was so romantic, Calem thought, looking at Apollo and staring into his eyes that were a reflection of the orange-blue in the sky as the sun rose, disobeying his father's rule to sleep in separate beds, the solitude that created a world all to themselves, the feeling of no sleep and laziness. It was the perfect moment, something Calem fantasized about for so long, and just as he started leaning in, Calem's mouth just started talking without his approval, spitting out quite possibly the dumbest thing he could say in this moment.

" _And every time we kiss, I swear I can fly._ "

It stopped Calem dead in his tracks, wondering why he would say something like that, why in _this_ moment, would he say that. In the shock, he just kept staring at Apollo, opening his mouth to fix the situation, but flooding out with more idiocy. " _Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last._ "

Apollo giggled at him a bit, covering his mouth as he tried to keep quiet as to not wake his dad. " _I need you by my side!_ " Apollo serenaded back, Calem reading his words and being absolutely ecstatic that Apollo was singing back to him. _He understood._ Calem collapsed in Apollo's arms in laughter, Apollo holding him happily and ruffling his hair. "You're such a dork," Apollo giggled in his ear. Calem looked up at Apollo, staring up at him and feeling his heart thump hard, but a smile stick to his face. He felt the urge to just… top off this absolutely perfect moment.

Calem suddenly leaned forward, going in for a kiss, but coming in a little too hot. The two of them clacked teeth for a moment before Calem tried to fix it, not being a very good kisser… at all. But Apollo was experienced, gracefully taking Calem's cheeks in his hands and repositioning the boy's head, letting his eyes fall shut and completely engrossing himself in this moment.

Calem felt like he was floating in the clouds, Apollo's lips just so cushy and smooth. It felt amazing, so flawed, but just what he wanted. He never wanted this feeling to end, but Apollo slowly took his mouth away, Calem opening his eyes to see a look of horror on Apollo's face. His teeth were smeared with of blood, getting Calem to reach up and touched his lips. He took his hands away to find big splotches of the bright red liquid on his fingertips, feeling like a complete idiot in that moment. Way to go, dumb ass, Calem thought about himself, huffing as he licked and sucked the blood away from his fingers and lips. He couldn't believe he got a cut like that and didn't notice, especially in that moment. Maybe he was starting to become numb on the inside and the out. Good thoughts, happy thoughts.

Calem wiped his mouth of any excess blood, licking off his hands whatever was left. He then got up from the bed and let out a heavy sigh, walking to the nightstand and slipping his headphones on as he thought about where he was going to go and how he would get by on his own. He looked at Apollo and smiled, though, happy he could talk to Apollo on his phone, rather than be completely alone. "I'm gonna start heading out," he sighed, readjusting his boxers as Apollo looked down in his lap for a moment.

Apollo didn't want Calem to be all by himself, he couldn't let him be all alone. But he had no solution to that other than- "Let me come with you." The phrase shocked both him and Apollo, neither of them realizing what just came out of his mouth.

"... What?"

Apollo stared at him, trying to process what just spilled out of his mouth and figure out whether or not he wanted to commit to this idea. "I, uh… I wanna go with you…" Apollo restated, more reserved this time. He couldn't look at Calem, though, embarrassed by his dumb mouth and wondering if Calem would think the idea was idiotic.

"Um… no offense, but," Calem, you idiot, that could quite possibly be the worst way to start a sentence addressed at your insecure boyfriend, "I don't know if… you have any way to protect yourself…" Calem explained, looking down at the floor as he felt bad about having to turn him down on this offer. "I just… I can barely take care of myself, and I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me…" he continued, playing with his fingers a bit and refusing to look up at Apollo.

Apollo was a little disappointed that he couldn't be there to protect Calem, but he was right. Apollo had no self defense, nothing that could help protect him or Calem. And, honestly, Calem probably did better alone, he seemed very independent and sure of himself when it came to fighting. "I understand," Apollo finally sighed, looking at Calem with a solemn smile. "Just don't get yourself killed, alright?"

Calem looked up at him, hating to see the pained look on his face, but just nodding as he tried to smile. "Well, we'll see," he giggled, staring at him a little longer before looking away and sneaking out the door. He carefully walked into the laundry room, collecting the clothes neatly folded on the dryer and shoving them into his bloodied and torn up backpack. He slipped into a shirt, a short sleeved sweatshirt, and his cargo shorts, happy to be back in his clothes and not have to sit around half naked.

The sun was going to rise soon, he had to head out quickly. He quietly stepped back into Apollo's room, wanting to tell Apollo he was leaving now, but seeing the boy already dead asleep. He carefully walked over, looking at Apollo nervously as he wanted to give him one last kiss. He had to be gentle this time, very slowly leaning down and pecking the boy's lips softly. He was too cute, his sleeping face so peaceful and just… beautiful. Apollo was beautiful. He really was like a greek god.

Calem sighed as he took a picture of him, giggling to himself before sneaking out of the bedroom and down the hall. He slipped on his shoes at the front door and picked up his hoverboard from its spot leaning against the wall. He looked around the house one more time, taking in this last homely feeling before taking a deep breath and letting himself out the door. He walked into the fresh, warm air, the sun reaching a calming spot over ust over the horizon. It was a truly beautiful morning.

Calem sighed as he sat on a rock, having been talking to Apollo all morning about how bored out of his mind he was with just traveling by himself. Nothing was happening in the last few days since he left Rin's hospitality. He was expecting this to be a little more… adventurous, more fights and challenges to face, but he was really just kinda floating by.

"It's so boring and it's hot as shit… I wish I had taken you with me," Calem complained to Apollo over the phone, leaning against the rock's hot surface and letting his skin bake in the sun.

"I mean, it's not too late," Apollo replied, Calem imagining him just sitting on the couch at home with the TV on and Rin and Athena talking together in the background. "I could head out right now if you wanted-" Apollo cut himself off, going silent as Calem quickly grew worried. Calem was in a constant state of fear that the mobsters would find them and kill them all after what Calem had done, and the sudden silence made his heart sink. "Calem, you should look at the news. Like, right now."

"What? Why?" He asked, pulling up the news app on his phone and seeing a big headline.

 _MISSING CHILD, CALEM BROOKES, PRONOUNCED DEAD AFTER TWO WEEK INVESTIGATION._

"Oh… Oh no…" Calem mumbled into his mic, holding his head as he tried to take some deep breaths. He _totally_ forgot the repercussions of leaving home and kept his location tracking off on his phone.

"That's you, isn't it?" Apollo asked, giggling a little on the other side. "You had such a dorky school photo."

"I'll call you back. I-I'm gonna call my parents," Calem sputtered out, his whole body shaking as he suddenly felt like he was going to barf. Death was his biggest fear, the thought of everyone thinking he was dead brought him great distress and hopelessness.

He didn't even wait for Apollo to reply before he hung up. He found himself rushing to hear his mom and his dad's voices, to tell them he was okay. He wanted to let them know everything was going to be okay and that there's nothing to worry about.

He wouldn't go back, though. Not a chance, he refused to live such a plain, uneventful life surrounded by people who never believed in him in, as he perceived it at least. He wanted something to actually look forward to that wasn't the daily grind of going to work five days a week and just waiting for the weekend, those sweet, two days of relief.

Calem stared at his dad's contact photo, huffing to himself as he thought about how worried they must be about him. He knew if he called, he'd get yelled at, they would search for him, but he would have to face whatever came his way. He wasn't all that concerned about them tracking him down, though. He was too quick for them, too smart. Well, the quick part anyways.

He clicked on the number in his dad's contact, his hand shaking as he held it up to his mouth, waiting for someone to pick up. It didn't take long before someone picked up, but neither party had the voice to speak up at such a crucial moment.

"Calem…?" his father's sheepish voice said through the phone, Calem covering his mouth as he tried to hold back the cries burning his throat. He had never heard his father sound so broken and unhappy… was he really causing that much trouble for his family.

"Y-Yeah, pops," Calem squeaked out, letting himself cry over the phone.

"Calem! Calem, oh my gosh, what's wrong! Where are you, what happened!" his father shouted through the phone, overwhelming the boy a bit in his panicked state.

"I'm fine, I'm just… so happy to hear your voice…" Calem laughed through his strained voice, coughing a little as he rubbed his head. "I, uh… I'm safe, so don't worry so much…" he continued to reassure his panicked father, coughing a little into the mic.

"W-W-Well where are you! We've been looking everywhere for you! Did someone take you, did something happen?" his dad continued the bombardment of questions, Calem kind of rolling his eyes at how worried his father was. But he also acknowledged that he didn't understand the type of fear that would take over a parent after their kid had been missing for the last few weeks.

Calem stayed quiet for a moment, staring at the desert in front of him and wondering if he should give away where he was. What could he say to him? He didn't want to leave his parents worrying about him, but… he didn't want to go back either.

"I'm safe, that's all that matters. I, uh ran away..." he spoke quietly, not really sure how else to put it.

"Calem, is this about that whole 'Soldier:76 is Jack Morrison' thing? Did you run away for _that!_ Get back home right no-"

Calem hung up. He had his doubts, but those were starting to blow away like the wind whipping sand up in his face. He slumped his head onto his knees, dropping his phone in the sand and just staring off into the horizon. Why'd he bother calling his parents? He should've known that was the reaction he'd get. With that, he decided he was never going back home. He was in enough trouble as was, it would just keep getting worse for him at home from here. None of that would matter soon enough. It seemed Jack was heading up in his direction and Calem was excited to finally cross paths with him. The only problem with where Jack was; the US-Mexico border.

The border wasn't as heavily guarded like Calem read in history books, no one cared all that much about it anymore after the omnic crisis. But getting over the border would still prove to be tough without a passport. Calem never traveled outside the country, his parents weren't willing to take him with the uprising of some new terrorist group that seemed to be spreading all over the Western countries, so Calem never got a passport.

He had some ideas, but not very good ones, not ones that could be easily executed. But was any of this supposed to be easy? I mean, so far, it seemed that way. He could honestly, probably, call Rin and ask him to smuggle him through, but there was no fun in that. The only dangerous yet promising way across the border was through illegal transportation, or maybe he could sneak into someone's car near the border. That seemed like a better bet.

His phone continued to buzz.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

Being kicked out of bars sucked. It was already midnight and he wasn't going to be getting any information that he needed from anywhere else. This left him pouting on the side of a building, his arms crossed as he tried to think of another plan. He could, theoretically, make a fake ID, but he was sure that he would be denied bar access when he was twenty one anyways, his short stature and baby face was working hard against him.

A random swarm of voices came over Calem as he thought harder, shaking them away and letting out a big sigh. He wasn't getting any thinking done tonight, now. "I can't deal with this right now, go away…" he mumbled to himself as the voices just persisted. After a few weeks, he was getting accustomed to the voices of the dead, mostly just annoyed by the way they halted his focus. Well, he convinced himself of that, anyways. He was, of course, scared that he was going crazy, wondering what kind of mental scar all of this was going to leave on him and how his life might be so much less stressful, had he stayed home. But he knew he'd just be left wondering, either way.

He lifted himself from the ground and figured he should head back out to his campsite out in the desert, having had enough for tonight and figuring he'd have to brainstorm other ways to get information tomorrow morning. He dragged himself along the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets as his guns felt oddly more prominent against his thighs in this moment. He was subconsciously coming up with something, he knew that, but these damn voices were getting in the way of his train of thought. You killed us, we had families, blah blah blah, tell me something actually valuable, Calem thought, slouching over and focusing once more on the guns around his waist. _To your left_ , a voice whispered in his head, Calem pausing for a moment as he just kind of stood in awe. That one felt like it was someone right behind him, Calem looking back to make sure no one else was there. It was odd, it was as if the voice was right up against his ear, even though he had his headphones on.

He followed the advice of the voice though, looking over and seeing a strip club. He wondered how on earth _that_ of all things would help. Maybe he could sneak inside and be lucky enough for it to be "girl's night," but the thought just made him roll his eyes. As he readjusted his stance, he felt his guns brush up against his thighs once again. "Strip club, huh…" he mumbled, staring at the door guarded by a large man whom he did not want to pick a fight with… a fist fight, anyways.

The man didn't notice Calem staring, luckily, so Calem decided he'd try to find some… _information_. He walked up a block, crossing the road ahead, then walked back down towards the club. Instead of heading straight for the place, he started approaching, then turned down an alleyway at the building before it. He would've looked suspicious, had he been noticed, but there was something about Calem that made him almost invisible when he needed to be.

He walked behind the building and to the back entrance of the club, scanning for any windows that maybe he could sneak through. There was one window, but it wasn't opened, which would make things a bit harder for Calem to get in, but in front of that window was some drunk getting off to something inside. He was a little grossed out by this, but Calem had a hunch as to what was going on, he needed to make sure.

He snuck up behind the man, silently cringing at his piss ridden pants down around his waist and his gross dick hanging out, but ignored it and peered past him through the tiny window. Ah, just as he thought. Some form of prostitution was happening in the back, here, Calem getting bright red as he watching a man screwing one of the strippers. He was a little grossed out by it, girls, obviously, not being his thing, but boy, was he happy to come across this.

Calem rushed back to the alleyway he originally came down, his footsteps light, but carrying him far. He then stopped at the exit and continued walking down the sidewalk, minding his own business. As he came to the strip club, he started heading toward the door, honestly just curious if this guy cared enough about him going in. He did, stopping Calem by just extending his gigantic arm in front of him.

"Where 'you think you're goin', lil' man?" the man asked, Calem stepping back and looking up at him.

Calem chuckled a little as if the man wasn't serious, pointing to the doors with a snide smile. "Inside?" he said, laughing again and trying to relieve some anxiety from himself.

"Oh, you think this is a joke, huh?" the man smiled back before his face got stone cold once again. He went to swing down and grab Calem by the collar of his shirt, but Calem swung once of his guns up and pressed it to the man's cheek.

"Do you think I'm here to play games?" Calem asked in as threatening a tone he could make his high, teenager voice sound. "I know what you've got going on back there, and _you_ know that everyone would be in some pretty deep shit if the cops found out about it," Calem started, the man going to make a move on him before Calem pressed the gun further into his skull. "Let me finish. If you touch me, I'm shooting immediately and hiding your body under some dead ass rock they won't find you under until your corpse is completely decomposed and you're unrecognizable." It scared Calem that those words came out of his mouth, but they seemed to shut the big guy up pretty quick. "As I was saying," he continued, shaking his head. "You're gonna let me in here and you're not gonna say a word about it to anyone since we both know that'd land _you_ in a _nasty_ spot rotting inside a prison cell, okay?" The man nodded, Calem smiling kindly at him and patting his shoulder. "Glad we came to an understanding," he exclaimed, clipping the gun back to his side and strolling into the building.

Calem's face went bright red as he looked around the inside of the club, immediately being met by almost completely naked women dancing on poles and walking around serving drinks. The men inside were disgusting, alcoholics and frat boys only being left after this hour. He was clearly out of place, he barely looked old enough to be fifteen, nevermind anything over eighteen. Nevertheless, he wandered further in, trying to ignore the beautiful women on stage and get to the bar.

He sat down in the only free chair left, between two drunk men, which just made Calem doubt his chances of getting any kind of information. Everyone seemed either too drunk or too much of an ass hole, and the bartender was already eyeing him suspiciously. If Calem opened his mouth, he'd have to make a scene, which was something he wanted to avoid.

Once the bartender looked away, Calem got up from the bar and rushed away, wandering over to a table in front of the stage. He sat down shyly as women walked around, Calem admiring how nice their bodies were, but being sure to keep his head down and not attract any attention to himself. Behind him, he could hear a man whispering to one of the lap dancers, Calem glancing over his shoulder out of curiosity.

His headphones started adjusting and centering in on their conversation, Calem watching as the woman pushed the man away. "Sir, I don't do that," she stated firmly, the drunk man just chuckling at her as he ran a hand down her body and between her thighs, the other hand firmly gripping her hip.

"No, no, it's okay, don't worry," he mumbled, the woman trying to pull away again.

"Sir, I don't _want_ to do that, get your hands off me," the woman was speaking louder now, Calem's face screwing up into a scowl.

Their conversation persisted like that as Calem stood from his seat, walking over to the two. He tried to carry himself with intimidation as he stood behind the women, grabbing his hand and tearing it off her hip, squeezing his fingers together. He yelped in pain as Calem grabbed his other arm, gripping it tightly and digging his nails into his wrist. "She asked you to stop," Calem tried to keep a deep, gruff voice as he spoke, trying to ignore the fact that there was a slight crack in it as the woman got up and backed away quickly. Once she was away, Calem was about to let go before the man started struggling against him.

Immediately, Calem pulled him out of his chair and pinned him down, the man clashing onto the floor with a loud thump. But he wasn't able to hold him, the man rising up and slamming Calem against the table in front of them. Calem was winded by this, struggling to breathe but not letting go. He kicked the man in the waist and knocked him to the ground once more, taking the gun off his hip and pressing it to his head.

"Stay down." Calem was trying hard to be serious and keep himself together, but realizing how many people were staring at him was making him a little dizzy. His face was getting bright red, but the man opened his hands and pressed them to the ground. He was breathing hard, obviously fearing for his life as the gun being on his head was sobering him up a bit. "I'm gonna pick this up off your head, and you're gonna walk out, got it?" Calem's voice shook a bit as he spoke to the man, but he nodded. Calem took his gun away, and the man carefully got up from the floor, wobbling out of the club in silence.

Calem took a deep breath once the man finally left, relaxing for just a moment before realizing all the patrons looking at him. His entire body tensed up as he realized that what he had just done was seen by all these people, and by their faces, they were pretty damn scared of him. They wouldn't call the cops though, right?

Blue and red flashing lights came from outside, Calem yanking his head up and being absolutely petrified. His mind froze, he couldn't think of a way out, even though there were so many. All the eyes on him, the panic of men in uniforms busting their way through the door with guns held up, the fact that he was probably going to have to go back home, it was all too much for him.

Calem sighed as he sat in the police department, locked up in one of their cells as he awaited his parent's arrival. He guessed the cops couldn't really guess that he was the missing child, though, since they were asking for parents' names, phone number, eccetera. Calem pulled himself together long enough for that moment, though, giving them Rin's phone number. Luckily, Apollo picked up, realized what was going on, and played into it. All he had to do was wait.

Waiting suck, though. They confiscated everything on him, his phone, his guns, his headphones. He was lucky he left everything else at a campsite, otherwise he would have been in a lot more trouble, I mean, finding smoke bombs on a teenager would be incredibly concerning.

He sighed as the voices in his head persisted to entertain him, Calem trying to ask them questions and seeing how his mind would handle that. None of them were really responding, it felt like Calem was trying to talk to someone in a loud club. It still provided a bit of entertainment in the meantime, Apollo was taking a while to get there.

"Hey, can I at least get like a deck of cards or something?" Calem asked the cop in front of his cell. The man looked at Calem and cracked a little smile, Calem giggling a little bit. "Listen, dude, I'm completely harmless, everything that happened in there was a means of self defense," he tried to explain, knowing it wouldn't matter.

"Kid, you flipped a grown man over onto his back _twice_. Plus, you had those guns on ya," the cop talked, obviously bored of watching Calem. "You were also in a strip club, and how old are you?"

Calem laughed a little at the comment, looking away a little guiltily. "Fifteen…" he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Those "guns" were toys, though, I was just playing around!" Calem tried to plead, the guard rolling his eyes. "And that whole encounter was to stop him from raping some girl," Calem continued, the cop actually raising an eyebrow at him.

"Raping a girl, huh?" he asked, obviously intrigued by what Calem had to say about all of this.

"Oh yeah! He was touching her all over and eventually wouldn't let her go when she was telling him to get off and that she "didn't do that sort of thing,"" Calem explained, sitting up in the crappy bed in the cell. "Plus, they have a whole prostitution thing goin' on in the back, I saw it. I-I didn't participate, obviously! Just saw it in the back window!"

The cop was a little astounded by Calem's story, raising his eyebrows at the boy. "Y'know, kid, we've tried to bust that place for prostitution, but never had any solid evidence to get a warrant to search the place."

"Well, I mean, you can't use me as evidence for that, obviously. I'm fifteen and I was in a strip club. But literally just send some random out back, it's pretty obvious what's going on in there," Calem explained, the cop shrugging at him.

"You don't think we've tried that, kid? We're the police, we've obviously thought of that," the man stated, Calem scoffing a bit.

"Bruh, that means someone in the system is apart of the whole thing," Calem giggled, the cop actually raising an eyebrow at him.

"Huh… You think so?"

"I mean, obviously. There's no way media reference wouldn't be enough evidence to justify a warrant, right? Then again, I'm not su-"

"The kid's dad is here," another cop interrupted, the two of them looking over at her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Rin!" Calem shouted, hugging him tightly as Rin laughed, walking out to the car with him.

"Yes, yes, but Calem, you can't be getting into trouble like this!" Rin scolded him, Calem rolling his eyes and taking his arms off him.

"Ugh, god, you sound like my real parents…" Calem mumbled, Rin crossing his arms as they approached the car.

"Calem, I'm just worri-"

"Calem!" Apollo shouted from the car, waving out the window as Calem's spirits seemed immediately lifted.

"Apollo~!" Calem exclaimed, jumping up in the air and sprinting to the car. He sped up to Apollo's window, skidding to a stop and just staring at the boy with dog-like excitement. "Thank you so much for picking up the phone, you saved my ass!" Calem smiled, Apollo giggling a bit and ruffling his hair.

"Of course, but you really do need to be more careful," he said worriedly, Calem pouting a bit at him. "Are you sure you don't want me coming with you?"

Calem seemed to contemplate the idea for a moment, pouting his lip out and looking away. "I want you to, but I don't want _you_ getting in trouble too…" he mumbled, grabbing Apollo's hand and holding it loosely.

"Calem, I can come with you…"

"Rin wouldn't even let you! He's probably gonna drive me back up to your place again…" Calem sighed, obviously a bit discouraged. He was losing track of the soldier, he was having trouble getting anywhere, and it seemed like everyone just wanted him to go back home.

Apollo felt terrible for Calem, he seemed so down, and he was really determined to set out on this mission of meeting this "Soldier:76." He didn't understand why his dad didn't help him, Rin knew where he was going next and he knew that he was coming back up soon… Why didn't he just ask Jack where he was when he last called him?

This gave Apollo an idea, something stupid that would probably get him in so much trouble, but he didn't care anymore. "Come with us… I'll get you to where you wanna go…" he whispered as his dad got in the car.

Calem stared at Apollo for a moment, being shocked at Apollo's devotion to him. Apollo really _really_ cared about him, he'd do something probably so stupid and possibly dangerous just for him… He didn't want to involve Apollo in anything dangerous, he couldn't let such an amazing and caring person get hurt.

Calem gently grabbed Apollo's cheeks and gave him a gentle kiss, with much less blood than last kiss. Apollo's hands slowly slid up to Calem's holding them gently before Calem pulled away slowly. Calem stared at him for one more moment, taking in everything about his beautiful smile and loving gaze. After another moment, he slid his hands out of Apollo's and started sprinting away from the car, leaving Apollo in confusion and shock.

" _Calem!_ " Apollo shouted, Rin looking over and seeing the boy running away.

"Where's he going!" Rin shouted, watching as Calem hopped on his hoverboard and sped away.

Calem huffed loudly as he tried to keep his balance on the board, totally shocked by the idea of him _doing_ that! That was so suave, so cool! He must have left Apollo swooning for him, it was such an amazing feeling! Calem hollered into the rising sun, eager and excited to make his way to the next town.

"Should we go after him?" Rin asked in a worried tone, Apollo staring off as the green lights of Calem's hoverboard started being engulfed by the sunrise.

"I… I don't know," Apollo sighed, clenching his hands into fists in regret of not being able to hold onto him a little longer, not being able to keep him close and safe. But he remembered that Calem could easily get out of sticky situations, there wasn't a lot to worry about. "He'll be okay, I think…"


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

Calem sighed as he woke up in the heat of the sand, feeling uncomfortable already. Though, the heat wasn't really what was bothering him. It was more the tightness he felt in his boxers, something he hadn't felt in a while. Well, not to this extent, at least. It hurt one hell of a lot, Calem having woken up this morning from a dream about Apollo, and boy, was it… well, amazing to say the least.

He sighed as he sat up from his sleeping bag and stared at the big bulge in his pants, knowing he wouldn't be able to wait this one out. He's never had a boyfriend before, a real boyfriend, and the thoughts of him swimming around in Calem's head would permit the tent to stay pitched. "I don't feel like dealing with this right now…" Calem spoke aloud to himself, poking it softly and flinching a little at the touch. "I've got shit to do…"

As he stared at it more, he could only imagine Apollo's gentle voice in his ear, as well as Apollo's hands running up and down his body. It made Calem twitch in his boxers, biting his lip at the pain from such a hard on.

"It… It shouldn't take too much time…" Calem told himself, slowly sliding his boxers down his legs and sliding his hands along his thighs. He bit his lip again as he could feel his cock twitch once more. "Besides… It's been a while…" He spit into his hand, lacking any kind of lotion or lube to help him out. He slid a hand up, then down his staff, shuddering at the feeling.

"It's been so long…" he mumbled, shutting his eyes as he leaned back into the warm sand. Calem's mind swam as he imagined Apollo's hand's touching him, Calem's right hand sliding up his body and softly playing with his nipple. "Oh god, Apollo…" he whispered, moving his hand a little faster. "Mmm… that feels so good…"

Calem's lust was getting ahead of him, making his common sense fall out the window. He stared at his phone for a moment, biting his lip as he continued to think about Apollo's voice. "Oh god, Apollo…" he groaned as he grabbed his phone with his free hand, dialing Apollo's number.

"Hey, Calem, what's up!" Apollo spoke cheerfully, Calem huffing a little.

"Hey, Apollo..." Calem managed to breathe out into the phone, huffing quietly. "H-How have you been today?" Calem whispered, starting to regret this a little.

Apollo was quiet on the other end, Calem starting to regret this decision. "Are you, uh… jacking off?" Apollo asked quietly, sounding like he was in a quieter place now.

Calem immediately felt like spontaneously combusting, never being more embarrassed in his life. "I, uh…" he couldn't think of what to possibly say next. "I'm sorry!"

"No wait!" Apollo shouted into the phone before Calem could hang up. "That's… really sexy…" Apollo huffed, Calem feeling his whole body flush red as he gripped his staff. He moaned into the phone loudly, an orgasm washing over him like nothing he's felt before. "Wow, did you really just cum?"

"Shut up!" Calem shouted, his voice cracking as he collapsed against the rock, panting. "Ugh, sorry for bothering you…" Calem sighed, looking at his limp dick in disgust. "I dunno what came over me, this was stupid…"

Apollo giggled again, Calem getting even more embarrassed and fearing Apollo was teasing him. "Calem, never hesitate to call me if you wanna do something like this," Apollo spoke, Calem covering his face, even though there was no one to see it. "S-Something about this kinda thing…" he started, starting to become a little more nervous. "Makes me excited for the real thing…"

Calem actually felt like he was about to explode, fidgeting where he sat and just getting redder in the face. "Jeez, Apollo…" Calem mumbled, laughing nervously and running his hand through his hair. "I… I'm happy to hear that…" he managed to get out, playing with his toes nervously. "I, uh… I can't wait either. Truth be told, though, I'm a little nervous… and by a little I mean _really_."

Apollo laughed at his comments, Calem feeling a little comforted by this for some reason. "I would say don't worry, but… I'm nervous too…" he commented, neither of them saying anything for a brief moment. "I'm happy to know we're both on the same page, though."

"Yeah…" Calem mumbled in response, not sure what else to say or how to duck out of this conversation. So, of course, he just let his mouth run. "So I'll send you an unsolicited dick pic soon, sound like a plan?"

This sent Apollo into unmatched laughter, loud hollering being heard until the laugh turned into a near silent and wheezy one. Calem giggled with him, absolutely adoring to hear other people's laughs. "Y'know, I'd really like that. Please do it when I'm at a big family event, or maybe even when I'm in classes."

"Of course, that's only courtesy," Calem casually shrugged, Apollo laughing even harder and sending the two into giggle fits they wouldn't be returning from any time soon.

A barren wasteland was all that was in sight at this point. Whatever wall that was there before had been blown to bits, stray pieces of stone still lingering at the site. Charred corpses and skeletons still lied about the ground, along with bits from the omnics that once invaded this space.

Calem took it all in with a heavy heart, walking on foot quietly in respect of those whose lives were lost in this place. It was dead silent, aside from Calem's feet through the sand and his deep breaths to stop himself from imagining what happened here and hallucinating their thoughts. His foot plunged through a weak, black skull, the loud crunch snapping Calem back to the scenery. He stared at it for a moment before letting his tears flow, relieving the strain in his throat as he wept loudly. Apologizing profusely, Calem carefully picked up the skull, only being able to wonder why on earth all of this was kept here, what possessed these countries to keep these horrific sights open to see. Perhaps it was a demonstration of something that brought them together, since Calem knew there was a big problem with Mexican and American borders long ago.

A car carelessly floated through the wasteland, speeding by and kicking up the black sand with its speed. Calem tried to take a deep breath, not wanting to think about all of this anymore, figuring he had to become desensitized to these things to follow Jack. But for now, he figured he got a pass. He could be weak in times of mourning. But was it a time of mourning? Everyone seemed to disregard what seemed to be absolute devastation for miles.

He finally picked himself up off the ground from the decaying body, staring down at it and realizing this was far from a person now. He wiped his wet cheeks, turning them bright red until they were dry of any remnants of tears. Continuing to haul himself through the sand, Calem didn't look at any of the other bodies, and if he happened to, he reminded himself that there was nothing he could do to save them.

He walked over the border line much easier than he originally thought it would be, just taking simple steps into Mexican territory without trying to sneak over some big wall and rush past border patrol. The trip felt longer, though.

After long, long minutes of hauling himself through the dark, burnt sands and graveyard of lost souls, Calem was finally on the other side, reaching an actual street and just taking it all in. He took in the town around him, taking a deep breath and just cracking a smile as a last tear built up in his eye.

Dumpsters smell putrid. This was something Calem was becoming more and more conscious of as he tried to feed off any leftover foods on top of the garbage outside of restaurants. It'd been a long while since he had his last real meal, and it was starting to get to him, his body starting to reject the dumpster food in an effort to encourage Calem to eat healthier.

He dreamed of being able to go back to Rin's house and eating meals happily with Apollo at his side, dealing with little Athena's irritating yet entertainingly smart mouth. He should've taken the opportunity to stay there and just… wait. But, if he had stayed there, he knew he'd just be thirsting to be where he was now.

"Ugh, come on…" Calem grumbled, finishing off the last of some kind of rice and bean dish while trying to just keep it all down. "Oof… This hurts so bad…" he sighed, clutching his stomach tightly as nausea washed over him. "Just gotta hold it down…"

In his fit of whimpering and shovelling food into his mouth, a shadow towered over him. Calem looked up to see a man with a broom held over his head, but a puzzled look on his face.

"... Hola," Calem laughed sheepishly, the man slowly lowering the broom and putting his hands on his hips.

"Tu comiendo la basura?" he asked, speaking faster than Calem's high school spanish class had taught him. "Pense que eras un gato."

"Uh… Lo siento, pero, no hablo espanol," Calem excused, standing up and holding the bowl close. The man only stared at him, sighing and turning around to go back into his restaurant.

Calem let out a sigh of relief, figuring the man wouldn't take very kindly to him continuing to dig through his trash anymore. Calem grabbed his hoverboard from the ground, taking the holo strip on the top and slinging it around his body to the bottom of the board, letting it sit comfortably on his shoulders. He picked the bowl back up and started walking out of the little alley, continuing to eat the food as he walked past the front of the restaurant.

"Espera!" a voice called, Calem turning to see the man from before with a package in his hands, jogging up to Calem. "Food. For you," the man said, holding the little package out to Calem.

Calem looked down at it, then up at the man, shocked by such a display of kindness. "Para mi?" he asked, trying his best to remember what he's learned.

The man nodded, smiling at him as Calem carefully took the package, looking back up at the man. "Grazie," he replied, using his italian by mistake. But the man seemed to understand, nodding at him.

He turned to go back to the restaurant, Calem looking down at the package and wondering what delicious food could be inside. The fact that the food before was from the garbage made him sick, but it did taste delicious. He could only imagine how good a fresh meal would be.

The sun was starting to set as Calem continued down the street, figuring he should find a place out of town to camp out for the night. He stared down at the package still, smiling at it every time he remembered the man's kindness. He was thankful for it.

The night was becoming gradually colder as Calem made his way through the sand, having a full stomach from that delicious food and just wanting to sleep. Apollo was on his mind, thinking about how he hasn't talked to him in a while, but couldn't call him due to international charges. He'd have to find somewhere with wifi to text him, or somehow directly connect a modem to his phone. He could also see what it would take to get a satellite phone, but that seemed like too much trouble to go through just for a boyfriend. He sighed as he dragged his feet through the sand, trying not to fall into a food coma.

Hearing his phone fall to the ground, Calem groaned, leaning over and picking it up from the sands. As he did so, a gunshot fired over his head. The boy froze for a moment before rolling down to the ground and scrambling behind the nearest rock. He ripped his guns from the belts on his hips and tried to take a deep breath and calm down. He peaked his head out from behind the rock, yanking it back just in time to see a purple trail left by the bullet.

"Who the hell is just shooting at me like this…" he mumbled to himself, pushing the hoverboard off of his pack and onto the ground, crouching down onto it. He threw the old package from the food up in the air, escaping from the rock over to the right just in time to see the purple stream go through the air again. He smirked a bit as he approached a figure, dodging around anything else fired at him and seeing the figure get visibly frustrated.

The person stopped for a moment, Calem trying to get a gauge as to who and what they were. They were dressed in heavy desert equipment, their face covered and entire body seemingly ready for some kind of sandstorm. While he was studying them, he didn't realize something was flying at him until it hit his arm, flinging him up off his board and onto the sand.

The slam into the sand left him winded and wheezing for air as he whimpered in pain. But he couldn't sit there and writhe, he had to get up. And so he tried. The first time getting up, he nearly blacked out, running to his board and falling on his face. He grunted as he got on his hands and knees, his vision becoming doubled and fuzzy. He looked over at what was left in his arm, seeing some sort of syringe with a couple of Z's on it. He struggled to keep his eyes open, seeing the figure towering over him as he grunted in frustration.

"Fuck… You!" he shouted, seeming exhausted as claws protruded from the knuckles of his gloves, taking a weak swipe at the person who just stepped away from it. "I… I won't let you… I won't… let…" Calem could barely speak, his words slurring as he started feeling a relaxing sensation sweep over him. "I… won't…"

A gentle, warm light greeted Calem as he slowly opened his eyes, confused as to what happened and where he was almost. He slowly sat up in a pile of blankets, staring down at them and being unable to recognize them. He was so confused… last he remembered he… he was… he really couldn't remember what he was doing last, it all just seemed to be little snippets of unimportant things. He stared down at his hands, then his belts, seeing his guns were nowhere to be found. This put a bit more in perspective for Calem, realizing how weird it was he remembered nothing and was in an unfamiliar place.

He looked around to see someone sitting at the fire in a rocking chair, seeming to sip some tea. They weren't paying any attention to him, Calem figuring they hadn't noticed him wake up yet. He carefully stood from the pile of blankets, very slowly as to not let himself pass out from the dehydration he felt. After steadying himself and clearing his vision, he became laser focused on the enemy, taking quiet steps toward them. He let the claws from his knuckles materialize, pausing for a moment before rushing up to the chair and putting the claw up to their neck.

"Who the fuck are you?" Calem asked in his best intimidating act, but his voice crack once again ruining it. Why did he say that? Why did he say it like that? He wished he was the one in the chair at that moment and to be killed instantly.

"How old are you, little one?" the person laughed, shaking their head. The voice sounded… familiar, Calem knew it from somewhere. Before anything else could escape his mouth, his arm was grabbed with amazing force and he was yanked away, then slammed to the ground.

Calem groaned at his head throbbing in pain, squinting his eyes and trying to make out the face. Once his vision managed to focus and center, he felt a strong wave of emotions that only made him want to cry.

"Holy shit!" he shouted, the woman raising an eyebrow at him. "I just got pinned down by Ana Amari…" he whispered under his breath, making her chuckle as she pressed harder on his arms pinned to the ground.

"And who are you?" she asked, intimidating even with the motherly smile on her face.

Calem was a little frozen in shock, trying to take a deep breath and not pass out at this very moment. "My name is Calem Brookes and I'm looking for Jack Morrison!" he spat out, gaining a curious look from the older woman.

"Jacky? Why might you be looking for him?" she asked, slowly loosening her grip and taking her hands away from him.

"I want to shadow him and become the world's next Hero of Overwatch!" he spilled, just dumping his brain out to her. God, he wanted her to be his mom so bad. He'd be 100000x more attractive and smart and overall amazing. She was amazing! He wished he could be like her daughter, Pharah Amari. How he adored the Amari's.

Ana chuckled, getting up from the ground carefully and walking back to her tea. "You're a silly kid. Overwatch has been disbanded for years, darling," she explained, sipping from her cup and looking back at the boy sitting up from the ground and rubbing his head. "I'll get you a water, stay there."

"Uh… thank you," he nodded at her, watching as she walked by in a pair of slippers and sweatpants, but was still somehow incredibly badass. "And there has to be something like Overwatch again!" he tried to continue their previous conversation. "These terrorists, Talon, they've been popping up everywhere and they're making, like, a hella lot of trouble!" he explained, looking over at her as he rose to his feet. "It's like they want to see the world burn. You guys have to stop them! I want to stop them!" he practically begged, Ana staring at the water bottle in her hand with laser focus, studying it in contemplation of his words.

Calem felt bad for putting her in such terrible thoughts, pouting a little as he crossed his arms. "I wanna start the new generation of heroes… I wanna save the world…" he mumbled, Ana looking at him with a mix of concern and regret.

"Honey…" she started, sighing and shaking her head. "Jack isn't that man anymore. He's no hero-"

"Yes he is!" Calem immediately defended, his fists clenched tightly. "He was a hero and if you kept up with any of the stuff he did-"

"I do, kid," she cut him off, her voice not matching Calem's with volume, but easily being overbearing with pressure. "Why do you think I'm here in Mexico, little one?" she shook her head at him. "Jack isn't the hero he used to be, or the hero he wants to be… He's… a very different person from what you see on TV."

Calem stared at her in silence, frustrated by the way everyone talked about him and how even Ana Amari, Second to the Strike Commander, thought so lowly of Jack. "He's a good man, one that I love dearly and always will, but he is no Hero of Overwatch anymore," she continued, Calem shaking his head and stomping his foot on the ground.

"Like hell!" he shouted, running up to Ana and trying not to stumble. "Who else would go and save countries from a crisis even after their government told them no! Who else would selflessly dedicate himself to his work and deal with all the shit he had to go through! I have a breakdown everytime I see a person die and contemplate it for weeks!" Calem defended him, tears building up in his eyes. "No one else would do his work but you and the other members of Overwatch! You're all heroes!"

Ana remained quiet, staring at the boy as he started sniffling and rubbing his eyes, shaking his head. "Y'know…" she started, gaining an angry, yet adorable glare from the boy. "I never thought of it that way…" she smiled, holding the water out to him. "It's nice to finally hear someone call us heroes."

Calem, being a spiteful teenager, kept his glare and swiped the bottle from her hands, making her giggle. "You're funny, cry baby," she teased, Calem giggling a little and wiping at his red eyes once more.

"I'm not crying…" he refuted jokingly, Ana laughing once again. Calem took a long sip of water while Ana wandered back to her rocking chair in front of the fire, Calem contemplating how the hell she could stand the heat of a fire in a desert.

He walked over sheepishly, being a little nervous around her, especially after yelling at her so loudly. He blinded himself with his feelings and didn't even realize what he was doing, but she was a mother, and probably more used to this than he thought.

"So, uh…" he asked, sitting in the other rocking chair and relaxing for the first time in a few months. "Why were you shooting at me…? And dressed the way you were?" he asked shyly, fiddling with the water bottle lid and realizing the fire seemed to just be decoration as it gave off no heat.

"Sometimes people track me down, and I just try to play it safe," she explained, sipping from her tea that Calem wondered why she still drank since it was probably cold now. "Living out in Mexico has become fairly dangerous now that Los Muertos have started growing. That gang is becoming out of control and could even overthrow the government," she sighed, shaking her head at the thought. "Jacky is trying to somehow take them out, but he's by himself…"

Calem felt a smile bloom across his face, clenching the arms of the chair as the old woman looked over, chuckling softly. "Are you thinking about _helping_ him?" she asked with inflection, Calem giggling a little.

"Well, if he could use the help, I gladly would," he smiled, the woman sipping her tea once again.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate the help of someone as skilled as you," she smiled, Calem choking on his saliva and coughing loudly in his seat.

"Wh- Ack!" he hacked, clutching his chest. "Y-You? You think I'm skilled?" he finally spat out, Ana laughing at him.

"Of course! To be able to dodge my shots the way you did!" she praised, nodding at him. "I've been sniping for years and haven't missed a shot in two decades. And with that sneaky little escape of yours?" she huffed, still wondering how she fell for that. "How on earth did you learn to do what you did?"

Calem was red in the face, unable to believe that he caused a pro sniper like Ana Amari to miss shots. "This is a dream…" he mumbled under his breath, shaking his leg in excitement and anxiety. "I, uh… used to practice a lot of strategy stuff at home… I played a lot in the junkyard and I dream about this stuff," he explained in complete infatuation with the fact that he was here telling Ana freaking Amari about all of this.

"Impressive… So you've put a lot of thought into this?" she asked, Calem just kind of smiling as he realized he left on a rush of adrenaline in the middle of the night.

"Uh…" he mumbled, averting his eyes away from her as he leaned back in his seat. "Sure…"

That made her laugh and shake her head at him, sighing as she also sat back in her seat. "Kids will be kids. As long as you can keep yourself safe, I don't think there'd be a problem," she smiled encouragingly, Calem taking a deep breath to take that all in. Out of all the people in the world who could support him, it wasn't his parents, it wasn't his boyfriend (entirely), it wasn't Jesse McCree, one of the most reckless agents of Overwatch. No, it was Ana Amari, the woman who was pretty much the strict mom of the world.

"Holy shit…" was all Calem could utter in complete awe that such an amazing person even cared about him. He was just a child after all, had he been older, she might have killed him.

"Don't let that go to your head," she instructed, tapping her fingernails on the arms of the chair. "You still got a sleep dart landed in your arm, you're lucky that's all you got," she explained, Calem suddenly shrinking back into his chair in embarrassment.

"R-Right…" he mumbled, shaking his leg a little harder now. "So, uh…" he started, his voice cracking and making him go bright red in the face. He thought he was done with puberty, why did this shit still happen to him in front of the people he admired the most. "How long was I out for?" he asked, taking a sip of his water bottle.

"About a day and a half," she replied, Calem choking on the water and coughing violently.

"Two days? No fucking way!"

"Watch your mouth!" she barked, crossing her arms. "You have too much of a potty mouth on you."

"Sorry, that's just…" he couldn't believe that he was out that long, shaking his head in disbelief. "That's a long time… Don't those things only last like… a few hours or something?"

"Well, you are a very small child," she said, looking his little frame up and down and easily making Calem insecure.

"I'm not _that_ small!"

"I am surprised you stayed awake as long as you did, though," she praised once more, ignoring his previous refute.

Calem sighed, hating to have so much attention on anything good about him. "I… It's not that impressive…" he mumbled, staring at the decorative fire. "It was probably just the adrenaline, I had no idea who you were and I thought you were going to kill me!"

Ana shrugged, sipping from her tea once more and seeming to finish it. "I don't know… You're an impressive kid," she continued, shrugging at him.

"It's probably just the weeks I've gone without sleep in high school."

Calem sighed heavily as he walked around the large city he was in. He couldn't remember the name of it, but Dorado was just another couple towns over, and Jack still seemed to be stationed there. His backpack was much heavier than when he left, Ana having loaded him up with snacks and water bottles, and although he appreciated the sentiment, it was heavy as all hell to lug around. He was lucky he made it to the next city without suffering from heat stroke.

Boy, was her food good, though… He chewed off a bit of some Egyptian dessert she made him, basbousa. He picked off the almond, scoffing at it as he absolutely despised them, but the rest of it was delicious. He stuffed his mouth full of it, chewing it and nearly choking on it with cheeks as big as a chipmunks. He wandered around store fronts, stopping in front a few shops and checking out their cute little gadgets and random tourist items. Must've been a town that attracted a lot of people, maybe.

Calem sighed as he continued eating the Egyptian snacks Ana made, binging them like an idiot rather than saving them up. But he was fairly stressed. He was going to be meeting Jack soon, hopefully, and he wasn't sure how to present himself to them, or where he would fine him! It made him nervous to think about, but that wasn't what was really bothering him. This time away from Apollo was getting him thinking about their relationship, if he could even call it that. What was he thinking, getting so obsessed with Apollo in such a short amount of time. What if Apollo isn't the person Calem thought he was? What if Apollo didn't really like him? What if they rushed into this? Who was he kidding, they did rush into this. Calem was just… really afraid of missing, what seemed like, his only chance at love. He sighed, not wanting to act on anxious impulse but also wanting to ask Apollo to… slow down with him and get more friendly before romantic. He wasn't sure, he was scared of romance. Everything about Apollo made him nervous and unsure and he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

A loud explosion nearby caused Calem to choke on his food, the boy coughing and whipping his head to the action. There was nothing to see though, except for a large cloud of debris rushing down the street with immense force behind it.

Calem rammed his way into a store, still trying to cough up his food as he slammed the door behind him. The shopkeeper stared at him in shock, a little confused as to why Calem was acting in such a panicked way. Then, the sound started rolling in, followed by the glass shattering tsunami of debris and rubble. Calem tried to dive behind the counter as fast as he could, shards of glass cutting into his arms and legs as he took the shopkeeper down with him. He barely made it away from the door in time before a giant piece of concrete smashed into the door, destroying the frame and bashing into the wall to create a hole into the next store.

The worst of it was quickly over, though, leaving the lights swinging from the ceiling, flickering hopelessly to stay lit. The store was completely destroyed, Calem couldn't even recognize what this person was selling before this. He started helping the woman up, apologizing for tackling her down the best he could in Spanish and making sure she wasn't hurt. She seemed to have some minor injuries, but nothing that couldn't be helped with some rubbing alcohol and a band-aid.

He carefully wandered outside the store, seeing the whole street was destroyed in whatever that was. What was that, anyways? There was still a lot of dust in the street, street lines sparking on the ground, making it almost unseeable what happened. He picked the hoverboard off of his back, allowing the holo-latch to fall from existence and drop the board on the ground. Slowly, he rode it down the street, avoiding anything that could be dangerous. As he rode by, he could see a woman and a child killed under the weight of their home, Calem taking a deep breath to try and prevent an anxiety attack. All he got, though, was lungs full of dust, causing him to cough profusely and wheeze in desperation. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth, the spandex easily morphing over his face up to his nose. He then lowered his visor from the top of his headphones, letting it fall over his eyes and turn on. He could see much easier now, but it was something he didn't really want to.

A building was completely collapsed, people screaming in horror as they were either running away, trapped, or trying to help people out of the rubble. Calem felt a wave of emptiness and helplessness wash over him as he witnessed these events unfold. What was happening? There was no way a building in a town like this could just… collapse.

He rushed to a few people screaming for help from under a piece of rubble, Calem trying to lift the heavy concrete. His arms were getting stronger, these last few months, but not strong enough to lift this. He quickly whipped his head around, looking for someone to help, but anyone within the mile radius he could see was either dead or traumatized and incapable of breaking away from the intense thoughts of these last few moments.

Calem looked down at the people he was trying to help, continuing to try and lift the rubble, but failing with each try. "I… I'm trying!" he shouted, the people continuing to cry and wail for help. He huffed as he tried one more time, not able to get it up even an inch. At this point, Calem had to give up, having already spent those majority of his energy on this one thing.

He began backing away, the people screaming for him to come back in desperation as he shook his head. "I'm sorry!" he tried to shout above the sounds of ringing in his ears and the screams of, what felt like, the damned. He sprinted away from them, moving on to helping more people that he could easily get up and out of the way.

He dragged people who were still alive and breathing and propped them up on a wall of, what used to be, a small shop. Many of them were hurt past saving from regular medical methods… but Calem pulled out the health pack he was given by the Fukami family. He checked to see how full it was, barely any juice being taken out of it from his beating several months ago, and he hasn't needed it since.

He set it down on the floor in the center of the injured civilians, watching as their wounds slowly started healing up and color began coming back to their faces. There didn't seem to be much crying from them anymore, either, as they all looked at themselves and wondered what had happened. Once Calem saw they were all healed up, he closed the pod again, seeing it was about a quarter empty.

"How do you feel?" he questioned the crowd, all of them ignoring that they couldn't understand what he said and immediately moving to thank him. Calem started shaking his head in protest trying to figure out what to do to communicate with them that he needed their help.

"W-Wait! We, uh…" he paused, all of them continuing to try and shake his hand and pray to him. He pulled his mask down, putting his fingers in his mouth and blowing hard to create a sharp whistle. "We," he started, gesturing to the lot of them. "Need to," clenching his fist into his chest, because for some reason he thought that conveyed those words. "Help," he made a plus sign with his fingers, hoping that'd signal to them "first-aid" or something along those lines. "Them," he finished, waving out to the huge amounts of rubble.

The people nodded at each other, chatting amongst themselves to try and decipher his weird hand signals, and starting to rise up. They were still weak, though, Calem could see their limbs shaking as they rose and their faces turning paler. He stopped them from moving another step, reaching into his backpack and pulling out the water bottles that Ana had given him. "Por a tu," he would say to each person, handing them the water bottle one by one.

As they drank, Calem ran out to help more people, hearing sirens sounding in the distance finally. But staring as the huge pile of what was once a building with lives and people inside made everything fall silent, the ringing in his ears getting louder. What happened? What caused this?

Calem sat in a hospital in Dorado, getting glass removed from his body. It was exposed that what had happened was a terrorist attack, presumably by Talon. From what Calem could hear over the news, Talon has been dealing weapons with the Los Muertos gang to help overthrow the Mexican government. His mind was fogged up with the memories of people screaming for help from deep in the rubble, the sounds eventually fading out to nothing as the voices lost hope to scream anymore.

He yanked his leg up when rubbing alcohol was applied to the many cuts on his legs, accidentally kneeing the nurse in the face. "Oh, oh my god, I'm so sorry!" he sputtered, getting bright red as the nurse shook his head.

"No, no, don't worry about it," he replied, clearly annoyed that he had to be cleaning up a child with lives at stake in other rooms.

"I was just spacing out and I didn't know-"

"Kid, don't worry about it," he cut Calem off, making the boy feel small and insecure as if he did something really wrong.

He jerked a little as it stung, clenching the bench under him as he held in his little whimpers of pain. With every little jerk, the nurse was getting more and more annoyed with him, but he had to do his job.

"Luckily, you don't have anything that requires stitching. You _somehow_ made it through that unscaved, consider yourself lucky," the nurse said, wrapping his leg up to prevent infection. "And nothing seems broken or anything. You may have a couple of pulled muscles, so just rest at home for a few days," he continued, taking a deep breath as he stood and began putting the wraps away. "Assuming you still have one. Do you know where your parents are, kid? You don't look like you're from around here," he asked, Calem suddenly remembering that he's a runaway.

"Yeah, I'm from a few towns over, I was just checking some stuff out," he explained, the man raising his eyebrow.

"You don't look…" he skimmed his eyes over Calem, making the boy embarrassed. "Or sound like you're from around here," he said, Calem looking away as he tried to think something up.

"We… just moved down here," he tried to keep lying, being painfully obvious.

The nurse laughed and shook his head as he looked over the clipboard at the bottom of the bed, seeing the name "Caden Brooklyn." "You're the Brookes kid, aren't you?" he asked, Calem yanking his head up.

He tried to think of what to say next, not even sure how this guy knew about him. He didn't think news all the way from Nevada would spread down here. "Alright, you got me," he started, putting his hands up. "But I'm gonna be off-"

The nurse shut the door, locking it behind him and instantly giving Calem an off feeling. "Y'know… Los Muertos heard about what you did to their friends up in Arizona… And they've got a pretty big ransom on your head," the nurse started, Calem's eyes widening.

Without thinking, Calem lept off the bench and made a run for the door, body slamming the nurse into the counter behind him. This was obviously unexpected, winding him as Calem unlocked the door with fidgety, misbehaving fingers, barely able to get it open. He yanked the door open, slamming it back into the nurse and bolting for the exit.

He was in astonishment that he managed to get out of there by the skin of his teeth, tearing the hoverboard off of his back and speeding away from the hospital. A ransom on his head? Now this was the kind of life he was ready to live. Maybe Jack would see and start paying attention to him! Maybe Jack would even seek him out! Who knew!


End file.
